tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26306387716540304482024-03-14T07:27:05.762-07:00Useful BulkStuff that might be, uh, useful.Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.comBlogger128125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-20814804307985077652022-02-24T20:12:00.004-08:002022-02-24T20:25:51.061-08:00Canvas LMS Images Not Appearing in Safari Web Browser<h1 style="text-align: left;"><b>Problem</b></h1><div>Students and instructors using the Canvas Learning Management System encounter "missing graphics" placeholders when visiting the Canvas site on Apple's Safari web browser:</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMBFTUCF0gDkhuZ9VpqojZZDKAycA-ItgP6cBcCc5XmgVf9gmeyHXpAmPqc3D3oW0lqjXfUiy6iKEMH7yzIZ8T9kiKNdHv7QOGtbJ_eE1oyHynKHzYSHyngWauTE4dzr1aHKGutRufE72f-mTjjLsq778J4WqIjsNmbQwwRzaVpR_obBxU5rxXxYU7cw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMBFTUCF0gDkhuZ9VpqojZZDKAycA-ItgP6cBcCc5XmgVf9gmeyHXpAmPqc3D3oW0lqjXfUiy6iKEMH7yzIZ8T9kiKNdHv7QOGtbJ_eE1oyHynKHzYSHyngWauTE4dzr1aHKGutRufE72f-mTjjLsq778J4WqIjsNmbQwwRzaVpR_obBxU5rxXxYU7cw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhSF_3IWYrpkFQT1uiLOj00SsFbI-WNZqF3qasFbwhZQh70xCjDIhb1qdafA6TvmhWKVTOm25YrNp4kzRTP9j3dIMIoptDfr7FYSx50y2eOTfvH-EzL5uxfUGLcbNVCv8iHG8q-doFvpPIZqVPOLiaMONbyyYepF6HSl20vLnpmzFvutL3N9lDbUKnlHg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="560" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhSF_3IWYrpkFQT1uiLOj00SsFbI-WNZqF3qasFbwhZQh70xCjDIhb1qdafA6TvmhWKVTOm25YrNp4kzRTP9j3dIMIoptDfr7FYSx50y2eOTfvH-EzL5uxfUGLcbNVCv8iHG8q-doFvpPIZqVPOLiaMONbyyYepF6HSl20vLnpmzFvutL3N9lDbUKnlHg=w400-h190" width="400" /></a></div></div><h1 style="text-align: left;"><b>(Possible) Solution</b></h1></div><div><b>Disable "Prevent cross-site tracking" feature in Safari preferences</b></div><div><i>(Caveat: This may expose the user to mechanisms which allow anonymous entities to track their activities across the World-Wide Web.)</i></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3CdZctgaakt43JAMGOLnzV2i_9VkP7fqd2-y4lbl3khZ932tVZyGuNOcC768f7MtG51hpW9ZYVrZsN0l2zL0NouNXlAxyRJrzw7WOnCUt3fePmNYMpJfKVaCq-VI9xwIjKb_YcurghK5Yg5hE_PrrKBDSAZ5ptaKbIkLUPAIc_VNhnbzv83rwMIo7Fg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="999" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3CdZctgaakt43JAMGOLnzV2i_9VkP7fqd2-y4lbl3khZ932tVZyGuNOcC768f7MtG51hpW9ZYVrZsN0l2zL0NouNXlAxyRJrzw7WOnCUt3fePmNYMpJfKVaCq-VI9xwIjKb_YcurghK5Yg5hE_PrrKBDSAZ5ptaKbIkLUPAIc_VNhnbzv83rwMIo7Fg=w640-h270" width="640" /></a></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">More Information</h1></div>Advertising content in web pages is typically hosted by different providers than the entity hosting the page's content. While this infrastructure is presumably used to target advertising to a given user, it also provides the potential for entities to correlate, profile and track that user's browsing activities across the internet.<br /><br />In the interest of user privacy, most modern web browsers provide an option to "prevent cross-site tracking." The intention of this feature is to limit how one's browsing activities can be correlated. <br /><br />However, users of some browsers - especially Apple's Safari for Mac OS - have encountered problems with accessing some legitimate site content. In particular, some users of the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) for education find the majority of the image content of their educational course materials unavailable - the browser displays a "broken link" placeholder (<i>see first image above</i>). Apparently, the Canvas LMS hosts image content in a manner which resembles the 3rd-party advertising servers which are used for cross-site tracking.<br /><br />Un-checking the "Prevent cross-site tracking" feature of the web browser MAY rectify image-loading in Canvas LMS.<br /><br />NOTE: Disabling cross-site tracking potentially exposes the user to cross-site tracking practices. That said, many internet users do NOT have this feature available or enabled. If you are concerned about cross-site tracking, you can:<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Turn ON "prevent cross-site tracking" features when not using Canvas LMS</li><li>Use a different web browser with Canvas LMS (i.e., Chrome, Firefox, Safari for iOS/iPhone)</li></ul><i><div><i><br /></i></div>NOTE: Disabling cross-site tracking may NOT resolve the issue in the newest versions of Safari: <a href="https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251770737">https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251770737</a>. In this case, you should use another web browser with the site causing the issues.</i><div><i><br /></i><h1 style="text-align: left;">Response from Canvas LMS Representative About This Issue</h1>On May 4, 2020, a support representative of the Canvas LMS developer Instructure posted the following on this <a href="https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Question-Forum/Uploaded-images-no-longer-function-in-Safari/td-p/210424/page/2">Canvas LMS community forum thread</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>I<i>n early April, Apple released Safari updates that included a major update to a feature called Intelligent Tracking Protection (ITP). This feature implements new limitations to resources like files that are loaded on pages from a third-party site, and it behaves differently than similar systems implemented in other browsers like Chrome and Firefox.<br /><br />This update affected the mechanism that Canvas uses to securely host and transmit uploaded files, including images. Users may experience files that fail to download, or images that fail to display. This behavior is due to redirection in the authentication implementation of Canvas’ secure file system, which Safari detects as a “third-party” site because it resides on a different domain.<br /><br />Our engineering teams are actively investigating solutions to this issue, but a timeline is not yet available.<br /><br />In the meantime, there are two workarounds:<br /><br />For users who have access to another browser like Chrome, Firefox, or Edge, those browsers do not experience this issue. Using one of these alternative browsers is the recommended solution.</i> </blockquote><blockquote><i>For users who only have access to Safari, temporarily disabling the “Prevent cross-site tracking” option in the browser privacy settings will restore Canvas functionality. Users may wish to only disable this option temporarily while using Canvas, and then re-enable it before using other sites. More information on this setting is available here: <a href="https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/prevent-cross-site-tracking-sfri40732/mac">https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/prevent-cross-site-tracking-sfri40732/mac</a></i></blockquote><a href="https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/prevent-cross-site-tracking-sfri40732/mac"></a></div>Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-39734173021789465082022-01-16T17:05:00.006-08:002022-01-16T17:06:24.734-08:00How to Export Email (or any Printable Document) as a PDF File on an iPhone or iPad<p>If you would like to export an email or any document from an app on your iOS (iPhone/iPad/iPod touch) device as a PDF file, you can do it using functionality built-in to the device, but the procedure is not obvious.</p><p>Here's how to do it:</p><p><a href="http://usefulbulk.com/iospdfexport/">http://usefulbulk.com/iospdfexport/</a></p>Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-14372712442253790302021-12-15T20:02:00.000-08:002021-12-15T20:02:30.002-08:00Facebook Spoofing/Cloning - Not As Scary As It Seems<p> This scam continues to be perpetrated against users of the Facebook community (currently December 2021) - this article attempts to inform users of the nature of the exploit and how they can guard against the intrusion.</p><p><a href="http://usefulbulk.com/fbspoofing/index.html">UsefulBulk: Facebook Spoofing/Cloning - Not As Scary As It Seems</a></p>Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-44415542030844632502020-10-24T16:39:00.005-07:002020-10-24T16:40:30.906-07:00Is Colorization Part of Digitally Remastering a Film?<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A friend recently asked:</span></span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When they say they are digitally re-mastered, does that include the colorization technique [I had previously commented] about?</span></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I responded: </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The ability to manipulate and even infer missing information (replacing missing frames of film, correcting physical damage mold, fading of dyes and the image-recording structures themselves) in the digital realm of computers makes makes them invaluable for working with all recorded media forms: still images, sound and moving-pictures. In these very mature disciplines, original content is converted into the digital language of computers. This is often referred to as "digitization," and includes such things as transferring the sound from a 140 year-old Edison Phonograph cylinder to scanning your children's baby photos from the original negative, to all the motion pictures in history. When you watch a movie on television (and back when we used to go to movie theaters, almost all of which have converted to digital projection), the original film was digitized to be transported and exhibited using digital devices. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /></span><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So "digitally re-mastered" is a bit of marketing hype, since no one would consider the alternatives to working with old films in the old analog realm if they could avoid it. Before there was digital manipulation of media, each stage of manipulating the content likely imposed "generational loss" on the facsimile. If you make a copy of a copy of a copy of a photograph, or an audio tape recording, or of a motion picture film in the analog realm the way all things were done before the last 40 years, the integrity of the original content suffered - it didn't look or sound as good as the original. Every movie you ever saw until the 1990s was degraded by at least three or four generations of the film production process by the time you saw it in the theater. "Signal" - the part you want - is increasingly displaced by "noise" in the process. In the digital workflow, you only have to manage noise during that first step from the real world of light and sound to the digital realm. After that, there can theoretically be zero loss of the original - 100% integrity (in practice there is quite a bit of loss incurred to economically transport the content to the user with a deliberately-designed, minimal amount of noticeable degradation).</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /></span><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ideally, "re-mastering" a movie would mean getting access to the original negative film that went through the camera, and has been in storage in a secure, climate-controlled vault for decades. As mentioned previously, this one-of-a-kind recording media contains quite a bit more information that ever got to the Big Screens on the hundreds or thousands of mass-produced "release prints" that were shipped to theaters, after being copied from yet another generation-old "Intermediate Prints" used to protect the precious Camera-Original Negative (which is worth however much it cost to make the movie - so potentially hundreds of millions of dollars) - dozens of these intermediate prints were distributed to mass-duplication labs to be copied to Release Prints. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /></span><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Today's theaters can receive movies over broadband data connections, rather than having heavy cans of film shipped around the world. Furthermore, these "prints" can not be scratched and broken over time. Remember what it was like to see a movie that had been at the Janus Theatres for two months? They looked like someone had dragged them across a gravel parking lot.)</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /></span><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In addition to the camera-original neg and visual effects negatives, an ideal re-mastering effort might attempt to access original sound production elements. These would included dialog recorded on the set (independently of picture), music scoring sessions, and sound effects. While these would have been meticulously edited and mixed on potentially hundreds of channels of audio, they would have been performed on equipment from the last 90 years, and older equipment would have imposed more noise on the results. So rather than use the pre-edited, pre-mixed soundtrack, a re-mastering team might consider (if available) re-mixing from dozens or hundreds of already-edited tracks of sound-striped 35mm film, or they might simply use that as a reference, and if the source materials were comprehensively archived, replicate or even improve on the original work by starting from scratch while using the completed materials as a reference. In the case of sound, one might create a stereo or surround-sound version of a film which was originally released as monophonic (although many enterprises create stereo versions of mono soundtracks with nothing but the final media - I once interviewed with a company whose primary business was stereo conversion). </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /></span><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Using ever-evolving computational algorithms, the tools with which moving images can be altered continue to be improved and invented. And with them, so does the ethical question of where one crosses the line from "remaster" to "remake." If someone cleaning a world famous painting decides to paint a repair over a chipped, missing section of the painting, is that OK? If a recording of a famous singer's performance is missing, is it OK to replace that section with a piece synthesized with a sample of their voice? Or by using another singer?</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /></span><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In re-mastering, it is possible not only to "restore" the visual intent of the original filmmakers - their expectation of what would be exhibited in theaters, generational loss and all - but to deliver far more of that camera original information to the viewer. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /></span><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It's also possible to deliver MORE than was originally recorded, expected or intended. From any given film source material, a modern project could: </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Deliver higher resolution than the original camera recording by predictively synthesizing additional image information never recorded, but inferred by surrounding recorded information</span></li><li><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Be presented at a higher frame rate than the original (early silent films were hand-cranked at 12 to 18 frames per second, and play back with motion too fast in modern 24 fps systems) by synthesizing digitally interpolated intermediate frames</span></li><li><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have color information never recorded</span></li><li><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Be stereoscopic (3D), having never been shot with two separate lenses (most of today's "3D" movie releases are no longer shot with complicated and bulky stereo camera rigs, but are created independently by production businesses which uses software tools and tedious labor to create adequately believable stereoscopic images)</span></li></ul><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As you might imagine, these choices are polarizing amongst film historians, nerds and fans. Back in 2006, I attended a CBS Paramount Domestic Television presentation of the first completed "digitally remastered" episode of the original 1966 <i>Star Trek</i> series. They were planning to remaster all 79 episodes, and their product is uniquely valuable, having effectively never been off the air - perpetually in syndication. The really exciting prospect that I had been speculating to a Trekkie friend about for decades was that we'd see this show in High Definition (that was the year we bought our first HDTV), with far more image information that was ever intended. I predicted being able to see nails and taped seams in the set walls. Those shows were shot in the same 35mm film as theatrical motion pictures, even though they were only going to be viewed on the crude television system which we all used until the last decade. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /></span><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I don't remember if we knew that this was part of the project until that night, but the shocking part of the Star Trek "remastering" project was not that they had re-scanned all of the 35mm film to make beautiful high-definition masters, but they had replaced nearly every visual effects shot with a modern, digital replacement. Did they look better? Yes, perhaps. Were die-hard Trekkies/Trekkors/Trekkers going to be upset? Yeah, a lot of them were. But Paramount/CBS was looking to inject some new life into the property, and propel it into their licensing future. So they did it anyway. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /></span><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You may be aware of revisionist alterations of movies that have been "remastered" - the single most famous revision is "Han Shot First" (ask a <i>Star Wars</i> nerd if you don't know what this is about). </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /></span><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">With the power of modern tools comes the responsibility of utilizing them. We have to make good choices and respect the work of artists and craftspeople who invented and created the works we are tasked to curate and protect.</span></span></p>Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-64981356631125290732019-05-18T17:15:00.001-07:002019-05-18T17:15:27.157-07:00A Flexible and Inexpensive AC Appliance Timer<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleTallBody; font-size: 17px;">
As a workaround to persistent problems with our ancient X10 wireless remote system (which we've used for 26 years to control lights in our home, especially those with ridiculous original switch locations), I went searching for something like a "repeating appliance timer." </div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleTallBody; font-size: 17px;">
<table border="0"><tbody>
<tr><td style="padding: 0px 10px 0px 0px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G6O28NA/ref=cm_sw_r_em_tai_c_E-i4Cb6G5QZR4"><img src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41VdPMowF%2BL._AA210_.jpg" /></a> </td><td width="400px"><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Timer Outlet, Nearpow Multifunctional Infinite Cycle Programmable Plug-in Digital Timer Switch with 3-Prong Outlet for Appliances, Energy-Saving Timer, 15A/1800W</b></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">NEARPOW</span><br />
<span style="color: maroon; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 15.5px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 19px;">$13.99</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This timer can control a 15 amp load, and cycle AC current with the following strategies:</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleTallBody; font-size: 17px;">
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<ol>
<li>Daily Timing - up to 3 periods, defined by OFF and ON times of day (like a typical "appliance timer)</li>
<li>Countdown and Turn Off - the timer will turn the AC outlet OFF after up after a delay from 1 minute to (I think) 23 hours, and 59 minutes; It can optionally sound a built-in audible alarm when the countdown reaches zero</li>
<li>Countdown and Turn On - as above, but turning a device ON (with optional alarm)</li>
<li>Continuous Intervals - the timer will continue to cycle between an ON duration and an OFF duration; the intervals can vary between 1 second and 59:59 minutes, or 1 minute and (I think) 23:59 hours. (This is what I'm using for my X10 workaround, resetting the X10 RF/AC interface every 30 minutes for one second.)</li>
<li>Set Interval Periods (Daily) - this restricts the behavior of #4 above between defined Start and Stop times.</li>
</ol>
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<i>(There's a good chance that by the time you read this - originally posted May 2019 - this particular model won't be available, but I suspect you'll be able to find something similar. I just wanted to share that this kind of solution exists at all.)</i></div>
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I'm excited that these exist, and I suspect that I'll be acquiring a few more.</div>
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Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-43666949782620862402018-10-25T12:03:00.002-07:002018-10-25T12:03:37.133-07:00Having to Scroll Horizontally to Read Your Gmail? Fix Gmail Message Formatting Caused by Large ImagesThis doesn't come up that often, but sometimes when I receive email with some kinds of large image files included inline with the body text of the email, Gmail presents the image in actual size, rather than scaling it to fit on-screen. When the image is very large, the image can display at several times the width of the region of the Gmail window for viewing message. Worst of all, Gmail flows the text of the message to the width of the image, requiring the user to scroll left and right to read the message.<br />
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This free Chrome extension fixes that behavior, configuring Chrome to automatically scale images to fit in the current message pane (as Gmail should have been written in the first place. Gmail's built-in image viewer is still accessible by double-clicking the image, so the user still has access to the full resolution of the inline images.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gmail-inline-image-fit/johhpdppebdjlbmkiheopoapdkjohfio/related">Gmail Inline Image Fit</a>Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-36687611598676581362018-05-31T18:24:00.003-07:002018-05-31T18:24:56.567-07:00Batch Extract Image Files from PowerPoint PresentationsAfter going through a lot of grief with alternate (and unsuccessful) methods to do this task, I ran across this <a href="https://creativeproductionlab.wordpress.com/2016/11/04/how-to-extract-files-or-objects-from-a-powerpoint-or-word-file/">incredibly simple solution</a> for extracting image files from within PowerPoint presentations. <i>(I'm repurposing decades-old PowerPoint presentations with hundreds of images on hundreds of pages, so hand-extracting the content image-by-image, page-by-page is tedious and even physically painful.)</i><br />
<br />
The only minimum requirement is that the PowerPoint files be in .pptx file format (not just .ppt), or access to a version of PowerPoint from Office 2007 or later, which can write .pptx files.<br />
<br />
This example is on a Mac, but the same principle works on Windows, all that is required for Windows is an un-ZIP utility.<br />
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">The solution is SIMPLE. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">SIMPLE.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">If the PowerPoint file has a .ppt extension, open it in PowerPoint 2007+ and save it again as .pptx.</span></div>
</li>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><a href="https://www.lifewire.com/pptx-file-2622191">PPTX files</a> save presentation data as widely-supported XML data structures, compressed in a package using the venerable ZIP archive format.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">On a Mac, rename the .pptx extension to .zip. The Finder will ask if you’re sure. Click “Use .zip.”
</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><img height="271" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/GCiT4ja5YefQNkN16aMLKAnNwrCDDWhcb_vdpEk50rgkC_E0Y0N-jU077UcLH92Pdua0tLDaUqMI8BYa6mrndWLE7oB4Fh-bC_syMcZ7Um9wWR8j_E9GxyIIooUPpPEBli5Zgm0H" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="532" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Double-click the resulting .zip file. The Finder will uncompress the file into a directory structure. Inside</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[folder with orig filename]:ppt:media</span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> are all the image files in their native formats. </span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-36500b1c-b8ea-a94a-271e-bf0b047b692d"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SIMPLE!</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></span>Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-66834760156596457412018-05-06T05:09:00.000-07:002018-05-06T05:09:06.875-07:00Quickly Rotate Google Photos with a Keyboard ShortcutWhile it's possible to rotate an image in Google Photos by:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>clicking on the photo's "Edit" icon</li>
<li>clicking the "Crop & Rotate" icon</li>
<li>clicking the "Rotate" icon once for every 90 degrees clockwise</li>
<li>click "Done"</li>
<li>click "Done" (again)</li>
</ul>
<br />
That's an incredibly tedious process, especially if several images need to be rotated.<br />
<br />
There is a <b>much</b> simpler procedure. Click on an image in Google Photos, and press [shift]+[R] on the keyboard. The image will rotate 90 degrees counter-clockwise. Repeat the shortcut to rotate another 90 degrees as necessary. The change is committed with no further actions.<br />
<br />
Pressing the [left arrow] and [right arrow] keys on you keyboard, you can advance to the previous and next images, and repeat the rotate operation. Thus, you can quickly rotate a number of images.Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-88221038588630645682018-02-13T17:09:00.001-08:002018-02-14T13:33:57.768-08:00SOLVED: Harmony Ultimate Home no longer responds to some Google Home commands<h3>
THE PROBLEM</h3>
Beginning some time since February 10, 2018, we can no longer invoke many of the Activities our Harmony Ultimate Home via voice commands to our Google Home. When we say, “Me: “Hey Google, tell Harmony to turn on DVR3,” Harmony responds by voice that it does not know how to respond.<br />
<br />
<i>(Learn how to configure your Google Home and Harmony hub-based remote to control your Harmony by voice commands at this Logitech Support page: <a href="https://support.myharmony.com/en-us/harmony-experience-with-google-assistant">Harmony experience with the Google Assistant</a>.)</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<h3>
THE SHORT VERSION</h3>
<div>
I discovered through experimentation that for SOME Activities that I have created, Harmony no longer responds to the expression “tell Harmony.”<br />
<br />
SOLUTION: Always say “ASK Harmony.” This has completely resolved my problem.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">UPDATE 2/14/2018: My symptoms are entirely related to the presence of numerals in my Activity names. See more below.</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
THE SHORT DIAGNOSIS</h3>
<div>
Some time after 2/10/2018, some hub-based Harmony remote systems stopped responding to certain voice requests made through linked Google Home devices.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Experimentation reveals that Harmony responds with an error message if <b>both</b> of these conditions are true:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>The voice command uses the phrase "tell Harmony,"</li>
<ul>
<li>AND</li>
</ul>
<li>The Harmony Activity name contains a numeral or a word representing a number</li>
</ul>
<div>
Substituting "ask Harmony" for "tell Harmony" results in normal execution of the requested Activity.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Renaming the Activity to omit any numerical references also results in normal execution.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
THE LONG VERSION</h3>
Around two days ago, (February 11, 2018), I discovered that SOME of the Activity requests sent to the Harmony Home Ultimate via our Google Home were no longer understood by the Harmony.<br />
<br />
Me: “Hey Google, tell Harmony to turn on DVR3.”<br />
<br />
Harmony (via Google Home): “Sorry, I misunderstood your last statement.”<br />
<br />
Other possible Harmony responses (which vary randomly): <br />
<ul>
<li>“Sorry, I don’t understand.” Ask Harmony for help to ask what I can respond to.” </li>
<li>“Sorry, I’m not totally sure about that.” </li>
<li>“Sorry, I don’t understand. Visit myharmony.com/google-assistant to learn what I can respond to.” </li>
</ul>
<i>NOTE: This is the _Harmony_ voice responding, and NOT the Google Home voice. </i><br />
Curiously, SOME of the Activities could still be invoked. Here is the list of failures and successes:<br />
<ul>
<li>“Hey Google, tell Harmony to turn on DVR1.” FAIL</li>
<li>“Hey Google, tell Harmony to turn on DVR2.” FAIL</li>
<li>“Hey Google, tell Harmony to turn on DVR3.” FAIL</li>
<li>“Hey Google, tell Harmony to turn on Apple TV.” SUCCESS</li>
<li>“Hey Google, tell Harmony to turn on PS3.” FAIL</li>
<li>“Hey Google, tell Harmony to turn on Chromecast.” SUCCESS</li>
<li>“Hey Google, tell Harmony to turn off.” SUCCESS</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
Rebooting and power-cycling the Harmony hub and the Google Home had no effect on the symptoms.<br />
<br />
I tried altering the name of the Activity in a minor way: I changed “DVR3” to “DVR 3” and “DVr3” (noting that all the problem Activities were all-caps), but the problem persisted.<br />
<br />
However, completely changing the name from “DVR3” to “Elephant” allowed me to invoke that Activity by saying “Hey Google, tell Harmony to turn on Elephant.” Changing the activity name BACK to the original “DVR3” reintroduced the problem (which is a great diagnostic clue).<br />
<br />
Eventually, I tried a different verbal command. Instead of saying, “Hey Google, _tell_ Harmony to turn on [activity name],” I said, “Hey Google, _ask_ Harmony to turn on [activity name].” Success! Without making any changes whatsoever, simply changing what we say - using the polite “ask” rather than the imperative “tell” ALWAYS WORKS.<br />
<br />
So something has changed. I’m certain that we’ve always said “<b>tell</b> Harmony” because since November 2017, we’ve had a hand-written sign on our AV cabinet which I wrote for my wife the first day I set up Google Home to work with the Harmony. The sign reads, “Hey Google, tell Harmony to turn on DVR3.”</div>
<div>
Even further and more absolute proof: Google Assistant keeps a log of all your activities:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="361" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/6wJMTt_9Dzu-BbM8sqzhZJPDWoTdORZ2Tq-QnsceOCLvGPPaPcPaJTDo7Iz5i7g1VIfXkX2uAsqpZxy2HibrAmZnMJUa5xb-jCUo1rHZ8pWi-1p79XsnMlwYPoCgnHcLJo8QTPW9" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The same command which worked on February 10, 2018 fails on February 13.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Unclear is whether the change that’s taken place was by Harmony (Logitech) or Google.<br />
<br />
For now, I’m happy to be back in business.<br />
<br />
<h3>
UPDATE: IT'S THE NUMBERS, STUPID</h3>
</div>
<div>
Thanks to feedback from Logitech Harmony forum user "john_woo," I realized that I'd entirely missed a clue that I'd put in my list of SUCCESS/FAIL Activities above. All of the Activities that result in a Harmony error response when issuing the "<b>tell</b> Harmony to" command have a number in them. (And to reiterate, using "ask" instead of "tell" works even <i>with</i> a number in the Activity name.)<br />
<br />
Interestingly, replacing the digit "3" with the word "three" doesn't help. The error persists. To test whether the prohibited terms were digits, I tried incorporating a "30" into an Activity name. So it appears that any use of a numerical reference in an Activity name will cause the request to fail if "tell Harmony to" is also in the voice command.<br />
<br />
Something appears to have changed in either the Harmony (Logitech) or Google code which prohibits the use of a numerical value (whether expressed as numerals or written out as a word) in a Harmony Activity name, when used in conjunction with a "tell Harmony to" voice command.<br />
<h3>
FOR AN EVEN BETTER HARMONY EXPERIENCE: USE GOOGLE ASSISTANT SHORTCUTS</h3>
In the course of trying to find any information about this problem online (and since I just found a post from someone else from February 10, 2018, I’m guessing that this problem is too new for there to be any online information), I discovered that by using Google Assistant Shortcuts, we can eliminate having to say the “ask Harmony to” part altogether. By following the instructions starting in Section 4 of this <a href="https://support.myharmony.com/en-us/harmony-experience-with-google-assistant">Logitech Harmony Support page</a>, you can shorten these commands from:<br />
<br />
“Hey Google, ask Harmony to turn on DVR3”</div>
<div>
to<br />
<br />
“Hey Google, watch TV”<br />
<br />
...or whatever you’d like to say to start a Harmony Activity.<br />
<br />
<i>(If you really wanted to, you could use a Google Assistant Shortcut to still say “tell Harmony” and have Google pass along the more polite and functional “ask Harmony” instead.”)</i></div>
Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-64751193337282683572018-01-31T16:30:00.000-08:002018-01-31T16:30:24.899-08:00Fixing Stuttering/Jumpy Cursor Problems on Mac Pro with Magic MouseI love the top tracking surface of my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Mouse">Apple Magic Mouse</a> - to me, it's the best-ever solution for scrolling, even allowing simultaneous scrolling while moving the cursor.<br />
<br />
However, on my Mac Pro 4,1 (2009), cursor control has been spastic, making use of the Magic Mouse frustrating. Concurrently connected Apple Bluetooth Trackpad and wired Mighty Mouse both work normally, thus suggesting that it wasn't either the cursor control subroutines or the Bluetooth system at fault. I've kept all of them connected for years, switching around for either better cursor control or better scrolling.<br />
<br />
Periodically, I'd look for solutions to the oft-reported problem, but none of the fixes I attempted had any effect.<br />
<br />
Then I found this blog entry: <a href="https://nobblynoel.wordpress.com/2010/04/25/mac-pro-2009-bluetooth-fix/">MAC PRO 2009 BLUETOOTH FIX</a><br />
<br />
And was immediately convinced that this blog's author had identified the true culprit: that the Bluetooth antenna location inside the aluminum case of the Mac Pro made for very poor signal propagation (my mousing surface is 10" from the top-front corner of the Mac Pro, and perhaps 30" from the OEM Bluetooth antenna's location inside the case). I liked the sound of the author's "BLUETOOTH FIX USING ORIGINAL BLUETOOTH CARD" solution, which mounts an aftermarket antenna on the <b>outside</b> of the Mac Pro's case.<br />
<br />
As of January 2018, I found that Amazon stocks a 2-pack of both the appropriate antennas <i>and</i> the prescribed "pigtail" antenna cables for only $10US:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>(2) 6dBi 2.4GHz/5GHz Dual-Band WiFi RP-SMA Antenna</li>
<li>(2) 35cm U.fl / IPEX to RP-SMA Antenna WiFi Wireless WAN Pigtail Cable</li>
</ul>
<div>
The brand name listed is "Highfine."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The fix is somewhat involved, requiring removal of the Mac Pro's CPU daughterboard and graphics PCI card. The solution also requires some real estate on a PCI mounting plate - the blog article specifies drilling a hole in a blanking plate, but all my PCI slots were populated. I chose to remove an infrequently-used adapter card for a video-acquisition box, but if I were to re-install that, I'd probably add the antenna to a USB 3 adapter PCI card. Fishing the pigtail cable through to the Bluetooth card, and actually working with the tiny <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirose_U.FL">U.fl connector</a> can be challenging. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>RESULTS</b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Problem solved! The Magic Mouse now works like a . . . mouse! Performance is fluid and consistent. It was totally worth the effort.</div>
Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-10775768709894291292017-06-13T16:27:00.000-07:002017-06-13T16:27:06.946-07:00Prevent Your Mouse from Scrolling Between Months in Google Calendar (when using Chrome)It turns out that I wasn't the only one infuriated by the default behavior of Google Calendar to scroll between months with a mouse wheel. Especially with the Apple Magic Mouse (which controls 2-dimensional scrolling with the touch-sensing top surface of the mouse), unintended switching between months is frequent and aggravating.<br />
<br />
Programmer Ivan Morgillo created an extension for the Chrome browser which disables mouse scrolling in Google Calendar. The extension is open-source and free.<br />
<br />
NOTE: After installing the extension, you'll need to quit and re-launch Chrome for the extension to disable mouse scrolling in Google Calendar.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://github.com/alter-ego/google-calendar-scroll-disabler">Google Calendar Scroll Disabler</a> at the Chrome Store<br />
<br />
For nerds: google-calendar-scroll-disabler's <a href="https://github.com/alter-ego/google-calendar-scroll-disabler">GitHub page</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<i>HINT: If you want this behavior to be modified across all your Chrome-equipped computers, you can <a href="https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/165139?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en">sync your extensions across Chrome installations</a>.</i>Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-87968174482095739852017-06-10T11:39:00.001-07:002017-06-10T11:39:27.528-07:00Google Assistant Shopping Lists moved from Google Keep to Google Home appIf you have been wondering why items added to your Google Assistant shopping list via Google Home weren't appearing in Google Keep, you (like me) missed this change by Google in April 2017.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/10/15242636/google-assistant-shopping-list-update-home-express"><i>Google Assistant's shopping lists are moving to the Home app today (The Verge)</i></a><br />
While it's still great to be able to yell out additions to the shopping list from anywhere in the house (frankly, the single most promising task so far of being able to have speech-recognition in the home), I miss the organizational features of dedicated shopping list apps (my favorite being <a href="https://www.anylistapp.com/">AnyList</a>, which like Google Home's <i>Shopping List</i>, features the ability to collaboratively manage your list with other people). But for now, we'll keep working with Google Home, hoping for future improvements.Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-32610500892775933952015-10-09T23:50:00.001-07:002015-10-10T09:33:26.352-07:00LED Torchiere Conversion<br><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWxiEJPXkWhf-yRDQKhEIpqEqU5Dcf7h0PmCSIRkvARvySu4WOIGlmlt84PJlTo9ap9eC3nOJBPr7BjufmV1BRSvZvKSN0BBpeuwpBwfTezF1VdRrXdobl6nAQ6OWloFNQk7M8_vNG5nzt/s1600/IMG_7761.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWxiEJPXkWhf-yRDQKhEIpqEqU5Dcf7h0PmCSIRkvARvySu4WOIGlmlt84PJlTo9ap9eC3nOJBPr7BjufmV1BRSvZvKSN0BBpeuwpBwfTezF1VdRrXdobl6nAQ6OWloFNQk7M8_vNG5nzt/s320/IMG_7761.JPG"></a><br><br><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUmrP2qSIb9dnGku4BRIY7hyphenhyphencq__GPKas8Zzco7rk0hZSE_f62GcTg974ht2iRx_76U7zHh813PPzo_ayWMlKgiIa7vAix2P_5HRVESdd2lzsHBoJRWg7aOFHfmipAY6txY7921n5UYjzh/s1600/IMG_7776.JPG"><br></a>Twenty-three years ago, my wife and I moved into an apartment with very little built-in lighting, and purchased a couple of torchiere floor lamps to put in the living room and office. Their 300 watt quartz-halogen lamps provided a powerful, white light when turned up, and could be dimmed to a warm glow for quieter evening settings.<br><br>Twenty years ago, we moved into the house we now own, and placed the two torchieres in the living room, making for nice, soft indirect lighting on either side of our two chairs.<br><br>Perhaps 15 years ago, we picked up a couple of wall-mounted Quartz-halogen projector lamps in the "as-is" section of the Burbank IKEA. I mounted these as reading lights on the shaft of the torchieres (one for each of us), removing the torchieres' failing internal dimmers and routing the reading lights' wires through the now-available dimmer control opening and down through the core of the torchieres' poles to their DC power "bricks." I added external, remote-controlled AC dimmers for the torchieres.<br><br><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUmrP2qSIb9dnGku4BRIY7hyphenhyphencq__GPKas8Zzco7rk0hZSE_f62GcTg974ht2iRx_76U7zHh813PPzo_ayWMlKgiIa7vAix2P_5HRVESdd2lzsHBoJRWg7aOFHfmipAY6txY7921n5UYjzh/s1600/IMG_7776.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUmrP2qSIb9dnGku4BRIY7hyphenhyphencq__GPKas8Zzco7rk0hZSE_f62GcTg974ht2iRx_76U7zHh813PPzo_ayWMlKgiIa7vAix2P_5HRVESdd2lzsHBoJRWg7aOFHfmipAY6txY7921n5UYjzh/s320/IMG_7776.JPG"></a><br><br>Some years after that, I mounted rear satellite speakers for a surround-sound audio system high on the poles of each of the torchieres flanking our seats, firing rearward and slightly inward to reflect off the wall behind. The speaker wires joined the AC wires feeding the torchiere lamps, and DC wires powering the reading lights.<br><br><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxkgpFBW4OWnTmGW8KFAv2fc0IhyjtWG6w-xYrcLy5n-GeMzVkOnGfccVleJK3bKHPLAQ0xHBGXkvtc5lvqJwlwniXoaSzGiJPpOflEeqXlz64lo3Xg4cNe6H5tJxc0bYv7q6446B622o4/s1600/IMG_7781.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxkgpFBW4OWnTmGW8KFAv2fc0IhyjtWG6w-xYrcLy5n-GeMzVkOnGfccVleJK3bKHPLAQ0xHBGXkvtc5lvqJwlwniXoaSzGiJPpOflEeqXlz64lo3Xg4cNe6H5tJxc0bYv7q6446B622o4/s320/IMG_7781.JPG"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaBfRv3ZYUsbXQ1qWYhvLKt7ntEOqb5nD54o591iM5bnF0PpPRp1_AL_bgan-4-94IugyG9clqz8rl5t89m0-YT6Eg67apzHoryakKnmx0PIF2Bf9ecuMmgXyqByBtbCT1sIDJnOQ8t4dM/s1600/IMG_7774.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaBfRv3ZYUsbXQ1qWYhvLKt7ntEOqb5nD54o591iM5bnF0PpPRp1_AL_bgan-4-94IugyG9clqz8rl5t89m0-YT6Eg67apzHoryakKnmx0PIF2Bf9ecuMmgXyqByBtbCT1sIDJnOQ8t4dM/s320/IMG_7774.JPG"></a><br><br>I've been slowly converting our home lighting from incandescent to LED (and very thankful never to have been faced with the ugly colors of fluorescent lighting). I'd noodled solutions for replacing the two 300 watt torchiere bulbs with lower-power LEDs for more than a year, researching available LEDs and power supplies (I still wanted dimmable lighting, which is a bit more exotic for LED driving circuits). Of late, there have been an increasing number of BIG, postage stamp-sized LEDs which produce light output adequate to replace any household application. I'd almost committed to buying separate components and fabricating a heat-sink/cooling system, when I stopped to look more closely at a LED ceiling down-light conversion kit at Costco. After some thought, I bought the $27 kit, containing two fixtures promising "same output as 120 watt" incandescent reflector flood lights, and 1,250 lumens of light output from only 21.5 watts. Manufacturer quotes of output of the 300 watt Quartz lamps in our torchieres quote nearly 5,000 lumen output, however, that's omnidirectional - light radiates in all directions from the glowing filament. LEDs output most of their light perpendicular to a plane, which is exactly where I want the light going - up into the ceiling. So I thought I might get away with a lower rating to achieve similar light levels.<br><br><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK4Z44ZSS71IgsRZ7ushgwLED1yHL9qe6lmB8-HeAvlR3ULVYnOiN51fhqVpTrVCHKgdarWuWU6XzfYh726HSeqxwo8r6QiBiEP9vFBIa8hbJZNcoC-9p_bQDMDkYg2ksDQ8xSzTXhp1LO/s1600/IMG_7714.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK4Z44ZSS71IgsRZ7ushgwLED1yHL9qe6lmB8-HeAvlR3ULVYnOiN51fhqVpTrVCHKgdarWuWU6XzfYh726HSeqxwo8r6QiBiEP9vFBIa8hbJZNcoC-9p_bQDMDkYg2ksDQ8xSzTXhp1LO/s320/IMG_7714.JPG"></a><br><br>Once home, I removed the diffusing lens (just breaking it off, then discovering that I missed two screws to remove it reversibly, which turned out to be moot) screwed the medium-base bulb adapter (the familiar threaded light bulb mount for the U. S.) into a work light socket and fired one of the fixtures into the ceiling at the same height as the torchiere lamps. It wasn't bad - about the same output as one of our torchieres which has an old, darkened lamp which was probably putting out half as much light as it could. But it was disappointing next to a freshly-relamped instrument.<br><br><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4srBkcs8nYxCO4q4Aidjfrn19VdNIw7CZ_dDJDsZOPY2KP8LvBusDEhRyAF87kQNU8vbXZefL43BJuirekj7Tn37Cg3q2iqdGvEL9n63ep1CwMrLxGNPcWx-XX2Ih5VRU2f5YXhxpbR1f/s1600/IMG_7763.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4srBkcs8nYxCO4q4Aidjfrn19VdNIw7CZ_dDJDsZOPY2KP8LvBusDEhRyAF87kQNU8vbXZefL43BJuirekj7Tn37Cg3q2iqdGvEL9n63ep1CwMrLxGNPcWx-XX2Ih5VRU2f5YXhxpbR1f/s200/IMG_7763.JPG"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuG4lenCuE4GPxltK7j4gcUViJnC5WHHOJztonaZ3JOiT-4Z5qAyLpT3cU9hRlT-t7xJQRpfvGTYuT2Ui5f45evSpCtyAgDdynn4J56qU6zmi7fYnTYcNRI1Xg8Yo-Zr1F1v5b7mf-Quz8/s1600/IMG_7764.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuG4lenCuE4GPxltK7j4gcUViJnC5WHHOJztonaZ3JOiT-4Z5qAyLpT3cU9hRlT-t7xJQRpfvGTYuT2Ui5f45evSpCtyAgDdynn4J56qU6zmi7fYnTYcNRI1Xg8Yo-Zr1F1v5b7mf-Quz8/s200/IMG_7764.JPG"></a><br><br><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikXyLQ4cLARYMAywMpd7xuHUWbhik5moDeP7athyjK6XY780SB0ZhdeR0JOgy1p5ZSiYw0DW3caL9fHTL4dgK9jTWmSHm2Ygf-HVLE7AoHDRuxzWskdLRYpPMjby402l84GC7fNHbGqhpi/s1600/IMG_7762.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikXyLQ4cLARYMAywMpd7xuHUWbhik5moDeP7athyjK6XY780SB0ZhdeR0JOgy1p5ZSiYw0DW3caL9fHTL4dgK9jTWmSHm2Ygf-HVLE7AoHDRuxzWskdLRYpPMjby402l84GC7fNHbGqhpi/s200/IMG_7762.JPG"></a><br><br>I considered just going with the reduced light level, but then decided that I might be able to Siamese the two LED fixtures by sawing about 1/4 of each of their housings off. They would both then fit (sort of) within the upturned shade of the torchiere after I surgically removed all the original socket and reflector parts.<br><br><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSmkDkZcl-iCtgX44yOTbsFfmhMZYvj7b9nyLddNXpDgknUE7MyYaWVRje5Kebu7ETZKkEbFKtE1O5aZzkN4nnUNIdXIyg9qT3Aj9449SbtPawpLR-2JTkfGNyRFsHMsuPruDv0qO2zhtO/s1600/IMG_7768.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSmkDkZcl-iCtgX44yOTbsFfmhMZYvj7b9nyLddNXpDgknUE7MyYaWVRje5Kebu7ETZKkEbFKtE1O5aZzkN4nnUNIdXIyg9qT3Aj9449SbtPawpLR-2JTkfGNyRFsHMsuPruDv0qO2zhtO/s200/IMG_7768.JPG"></a><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht47KncUZSgw_xvnjBaVr3TX5b7nvl7Cnp5k7MsaHWxYmr6pgYhkD2AyB0RDJ9bVbepGDubW3mB8JS2_gXBwx576XhnHvwfu38uDvAni1qTag4zKjmlX28N8kzHmZLSIYJuW24IFROm5sx/s200/IMG_7767.JPG"><br><br>Further exploration and experimentation revealed that I could free the array of 18 LEDs and the steel disk to which they are bonded - I realized it wasn't glued as I first suspected, but merely stuck by silicone heat sink grease. The hockey puck-sized dimmable power supply was easily separated, though I had only about 1/3" of wire with which to solder on four connections between the power supplies and LEDs. <br><br><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUHf39FMIvz1Id5NfAJb9DftcWmGV3-rvUZMvL3LI3p_ZaEUqY7Bd4PQhFZvkt65DCHBoolqMA5FpbyvsI4blV0ksn5eo8PJnpGVMypiv1fO-vBfYu3Ja94cZRmhcTKfcUx2WJl-KZrHl-/s1600/IMG_7684.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUHf39FMIvz1Id5NfAJb9DftcWmGV3-rvUZMvL3LI3p_ZaEUqY7Bd4PQhFZvkt65DCHBoolqMA5FpbyvsI4blV0ksn5eo8PJnpGVMypiv1fO-vBfYu3Ja94cZRmhcTKfcUx2WJl-KZrHl-/s320/IMG_7684.JPG"></a><br><br>A couple of hours wandering around Home Depot yielded some galvanized steel plates (made for joining construction lumber), pop rivets, some threaded rod and a Plan.<br><br><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV0pEFZVT3RoiPflZznrxYY7XTvLkTTtum_899COCvZJhvxAJPBeDLffQsf4dHRjp8A6e252kEtg1y2YZHCPhfeUFLA0A9onVSl9PBYX_xt8uNK1hg5_dF9L102kuackgEc5ucLSqzBLDr/s1600/IMG_7773.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV0pEFZVT3RoiPflZznrxYY7XTvLkTTtum_899COCvZJhvxAJPBeDLffQsf4dHRjp8A6e252kEtg1y2YZHCPhfeUFLA0A9onVSl9PBYX_xt8uNK1hg5_dF9L102kuackgEc5ucLSqzBLDr/s320/IMG_7773.JPG"></a><br><br><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSUagAOndh7DL_yF6C_DICjOzOqYvBBLSjjGqKu5-0kr5XgrC5rbbV1xjSg0XQ__6N4y_k-gTZPafQXgsx8FxqLkgkpIocR7Rua1UA2jApqRkOMKANLPEEYUp8f5GS89aX-z_cOUT0Q-Rw/s1600/IMG_7769.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSUagAOndh7DL_yF6C_DICjOzOqYvBBLSjjGqKu5-0kr5XgrC5rbbV1xjSg0XQ__6N4y_k-gTZPafQXgsx8FxqLkgkpIocR7Rua1UA2jApqRkOMKANLPEEYUp8f5GS89aX-z_cOUT0Q-Rw/s320/IMG_7769.JPG"></a><br><br>I riveted the LED arrays from both of the fixtures on my fabricated mounting plates/heat sinks (with yet more heat sink grease), and tucked the power supplies underneath. The whole assembly floats above the torchieres' shallow, upturned bowl-shaped shades on two threaded rods.<br><br><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVV-IahT4EUxJWg7zqyLlVotU9es3seAX8CWEHwWOJWVHXEqEkpV8xlB21APvOZR-mQ-hRpK1GQOTLN54euZW9qMsvAYbiOVMTeldB4UEcSC2JuiD66RFb6XbnMEA18tdNU9ioBbe-XCF8/s1600/IMG_7711.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVV-IahT4EUxJWg7zqyLlVotU9es3seAX8CWEHwWOJWVHXEqEkpV8xlB21APvOZR-mQ-hRpK1GQOTLN54euZW9qMsvAYbiOVMTeldB4UEcSC2JuiD66RFb6XbnMEA18tdNU9ioBbe-XCF8/s320/IMG_7711.JPG"></a> <br><br>Before (dimmed very low for photo) <br><br><br><br><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiegjUVgPCckWXItSn36C1ziPMpBwVz56jA_-Uj-WmYrGJ8-Dxb9x4IS_Kd3c9TfyeceBPO7S4zhA0puA4OQ4yuUC6gd0lW9B4wBEfJoyAG1nlHO1_BWqNqhwS_VOj3PzY4Kv96DJeJy3Sg/s1600/IMG_7702.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiegjUVgPCckWXItSn36C1ziPMpBwVz56jA_-Uj-WmYrGJ8-Dxb9x4IS_Kd3c9TfyeceBPO7S4zhA0puA4OQ4yuUC6gd0lW9B4wBEfJoyAG1nlHO1_BWqNqhwS_VOj3PzY4Kv96DJeJy3Sg/s320/IMG_7702.JPG"></a> <br><br>After (also dimmed low) <br><br><br>When I fired it up, I was thrilled to find that the combined output of the 43 watts of LEDs equals or exceeds that of the brand new 300 watt quartz-halogen bulb, and the pattern on the ceiling and walls is perfect. The lights dim as hoped, though there is little to no color change (having warm colored lighting at night may be a better idea to prevent unwanted wakefulness), and the light levels abruptly change at some points - which matters not. Power consumption will drop to 1/7th of the original, and in the summer, the air conditioner will have to contend with over 500 fewer watts of heat in the living room at night.<br><br><br><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3P6r6sXOu89fnPn_2U6bOqqejJS-0jsVusvkcl1GiVK2S5am37l00IXXvoCjspWJUyOxg10dBZjeJeZ5N8hEj_9k3__Gwn9C-uyZ7XQoc4Z4qPknhl8bfsZniSPMmj4_28RP6Wv5WOeNp/s1600/IMG_7713.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3P6r6sXOu89fnPn_2U6bOqqejJS-0jsVusvkcl1GiVK2S5am37l00IXXvoCjspWJUyOxg10dBZjeJeZ5N8hEj_9k3__Gwn9C-uyZ7XQoc4Z4qPknhl8bfsZniSPMmj4_28RP6Wv5WOeNp/s320/IMG_7713.JPG"></a> <br><br>The original halogen light on the left, and the LED on the right - the dimmers are set at only about 30 per cent, but the LED exhibits none of the reddish color change of a filament bulb. <br><br><br> Success! Our 20th-Century lamps are now 21st, and will continue to serve as reading lights and Surround Sound satellites for years to come.Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-89104203960072574092015-10-09T21:42:00.003-07:002015-10-09T21:42:36.103-07:00Attending the 2015 AltCar ExpoMy wife and I have attended several of the annual meetings of the <a href="http://www.altcarexpo.com/">AltCar Expo</a> in Santa Monica, California.<br />
<br />
Here are some comments I wrote for my old friends who are gear-heads.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://goingev.blogspot.com/2015/10/attending-2015-altcar-expo.html"><span id="goog_917614926"></span>Attending the 2015 AltCar Expo</a><span id="goog_917614927"></span>Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-61689477948806496802015-06-19T06:39:00.000-07:002015-06-19T07:08:12.526-07:00The 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals - What Was It?<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On June 5th and 6th, 2015, the Finals of the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Robotics_Challenge" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DARPA Robots Challenge</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> were held at the Pomona Fairplex in Pomona, California. This was the culmination a three-year competition in which international teams developed hardware and software to complete a series of human-world tasks in a disaster/rescue environment. Organized and funded by the United States’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the competition was inspired by the aftermath of the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2011 Fukishima Daiichi nuclear powerplant disaster</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and was intended to spur development of tools to aid in crisis events which present high-risk to humans. (When existing robots were deployed and utilized to evaluate the extremely dangerous areas of Daiichi site, it became evident that many critically-useful tasks could not be performed by existing robots.)</span><br>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In previous years, DARPA held the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Grand_Challenge" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DARPA Grand Challenge</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Grand_Challenge_(2007)" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DARPA Urban Challenge</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which pitted competitors against each other and against off- and on-road obstacle courses with motorized vehicles (which were mostly modified existing motor vehicles originally built for humans).</span><br>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/" style="text-decoration: none;">DARPA Robotics Challenge website</a></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We attended the last day of the Robotics Challenge Finals, and what we witnessed was surprising and impressive, if not for obvious reasons. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Admission to the event was free. Trying to manage our time, we spent little time perusing the impressive amount of static exhibits laid out on the tarmac outside the Fairplex’s horse-racing stadium. Once we saw what was actually happening inside the stadium, we chose to prioritize watching the active competition.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think it was better than I was relatively unprepared about the event. I’d only very briefly skimmed some documentation about the event - enough to know that a parameter of the competition was “intermittent periods of wireless connectivity” between the human controllers and the robots. This was meant to represent real-world conditions in which robots on disaster site might lose communications contact because of structural impedance or because of radio-frequency interference from rescue operations or equipment malfunctions. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think my wife Joni and I were both surprised at the scale of the presentation, and the polish of the event. It was extremely well produced. Crowds were well-managed. The event’s graphics were well-placed and informative. Extremely elaborate multi-camera video and professional announcing and field reporting work provided a polished video feed to attendees and Internet viewers. Food and facilities (an easy call for the Pomona Fairplex, which hosts many large events annually, including the month-long, 1.5M visitor Los Angeles County Fair) were very good. I remind you that this was an exhibition of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the part of the United States military complex which a half-century ago created the embryo of what would become the Internet, and also any number of known and unknown defensive and offensive military technology projects. It’s a government project, and that’s not often a recipe for a Good Time.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the huge covered grandstands at the Fairplex’ horse-racing track, we found seats in the bleachers, and took in the setting: In front of a crowd of a couple of thousand spectators, five stages were constructed. Flanking a center stage for </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">human</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> presentations, four identical three-walled “sets” were constructed (with an open side theatrically facing the audience) as obstacle courses. The robots were presented with eight tasks working in an environment with human ergonomics, and could score a single point for each challenge for a maximum of eight points. The total time required to finish the (optional) number of tasks they chose to complete was recorded. Final places were based upon total points achieved and lowest time required, and the top three finishing place teams were awarded $2 million, $1 million, and $500 thousand respectively. It should be noted that (as with the previous Grand and Urban Challenges) the costs of developing, purchasing and constructing the robots for several of the teams exceeded the the $2M first-place prize (I think I heard a $1M price tag quoted for one of the 3rd-party robots used by several teams), so for many teams, prize money was not a goal in and of itself. As with previous DARPA Challenges, teams were created and sponsored by commercial industry, government agencies, and educational institutions. Expense, creativity and innovation varied accordingly. The twenty-three teams featured competitors from six countries: Japan, Germany, Italy, Republic of Korea, China and the United States.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Multiple tracks defined teams which received some or no funding from DARPA. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Different from previous DARPA Challenges, teams were not required to design their own robots. Several teams chose to acquire existing robots from other enterprises, and modified or designed their own software for autonomous and human control. Among the 3rd-party robots purchased by </span><a href="http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/teams" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">teams</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the most visibly recognizable were the six </span><a href="http://www.bostondynamics.com/robot_Atlas.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Atlas</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> robots from </span><a href="http://www.bostondynamics.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Boston Dynamics</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Many readers will know Boston Dynamics from </span><a href="https://youtu.be/W1czBcnX1Ww" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">YouTube videos</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of their “Big Dog” quadrupedal walking robot. (Boston Dynamics was purchased by Google in December 2013.) Another popular choice for teams not developing their own robots was the </span><a href="http://en.robotis.com/index/product.php?cate_code=111410" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Robotis Thormang</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br></b>
<br>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">During the </span><a href="http://archive.darpa.mil/roboticschallengetrialsarchive/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2013 DRC Trials</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, robots were allowed to be mechanically tethered to protect them against damage during a fall, and were allowed to use an umbilical cable to provide external power and data connection. For these Finals, robots were disallowed from either of those aids. They would have to carry all the power required to operate for the 60 minute maximum task period onboard, and would have no safety system in the event of a fall (the final Task is a climb of 4 steps, and some of these mostly top-heavy robots weigh in excess of 180 kg/396 lbs, so they can really do themselves some damage). Most, but not all of the robots are bipedal walking robots, primarily because of the assumption that they would be the best solution for navigating in spaces and over obstacles designed for human beings. There are notable exceptions, like Team Aero’s </span><a href="http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/finalist/aero" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aero DRC</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, with four legs which also have wheels, and NASA Jet Propulsion Labs’ aptly-named </span><a href="http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/finalist/robosimian" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">RoboSimian</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which contorts its four long multi-jointed appendages not unlike a tree-dwelling monkey to whatever configuration is appropriate for completing the current task safely.</span><br>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<i><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hzmMVHGNXvI/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hzmMVHGNXvI?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe><br><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Highlights from the 2013 DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials, showing safety-tethered and umbilical-connected robots attempting tasks.</span></i></blockquote>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Perhaps the most challenging change between the 2013 Trials and the Finals regards remote control and autonomy. For the Trials, robots could be constantly controlled by a physical data connection - wires. In the Finals, not only would all communications between teams and robot be wirelessly communicated, but the communication links would be deliberately degraded intermittently by DARPA organizers to simulate real-world communications problems at rescue sites. To this end, the expectation was that teams would develop software running internally within the robots that allowed them to complete the competition tasks without constant human help. According to DARPA video team interviews, teams typically “drive” robots to the task area and then initiate an autonomous routine to complete the task. Using multiple camera vision and laser 3-dimensional scanners, the robots would have to identify targets: a doorway, a door handle, a valve wheel, handheld power tools, stair steps, a shape on a plywood wall to be cut around - and manipulate the items in their environment to complete the current task. I think that had teams opted NOT to develop autonomous software, they might still be able to attempt every task manually. But because they wouldn’t know when and for how long DARPA organizers would interrupt their communications connection, their hopes of either achieving competitive times or even completing the stage within the maximum 60 minute time were unlikely. </span><br>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m not certain, but I believe that the human team members were only able to use their robots’ sensing mechanisms to make control decisions from their command centers. So even if they chose to manually perform some tasks, they depended upon having designed adequate sensing infrastructure to apprehend the robot’s environment. So if they had only supplied their robot with a single camera view, it might prove difficult to guide a manipulator with no reference as to depth. We saw brief glimpses of 3-dimensional visualizations of objects on team computer monitors which reveals the nature of the robots’ “vision” systems. Most, if not all of the robots use </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">LIDAR</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> laser scanning systems (often visible as spinning devices mounted high on the robot) to provide their robots with a 3-dimensional model of both its environment and itself - robots must “look” at their own manipulator arms and graspers to determine where they are relative to their environment. (Here’s is a </span><a href="https://youtu.be/dv9Wm20UrcU?t=2h11m58s" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sample of this footage</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in the middle of a 4-hour DARPA video of the event.)</span><br>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It should be noted that not all robots and teams attempted all tasks. Teams were allowed to choose to bypass some tasks, if the best use of their available resources with respect to the defined tasks was to skip a potential point-earning task in exchange for much lower elapsed total time. This might completely eliminate significant complexity in the design of the robot, and for those teams not expecting to place first, might improve their finishing positions by avoiding robot- or time-killing tasks. (It’s worth noting that the top three finishers were also the only teams to earn the maximum eight points.)</span><br>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: 1.38;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Teams were allowed to declare a “reset” on any given task, which (I think) earned them a 10-minute time penalty but allowed them to attempt the earn that point again.</span><br>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 20.2399997711182px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Tasks</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 20.2399997711182px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Drive Task</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1 point) - the robot drives a </span><a href="http://www.polaris.com/en-us/ranger-utv/ranger-xp-900-eps-black-pearl" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">utility vehicle</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> over course of about 100 feet, with two traffic barriers creating a chicane about 2/3 of the way down the path. The robot is NOT responsible for getting into the vehicle - only to steer and operate the throttle pedal. Notably, several of the larger robots were “seated” in the passenger seat and operated the controls on the driver’s side - presumably because they would otherwise not clear the steering wheel. The track for this driving task ran the width of the fairground’s horse racing track, so the four competition courses covered a larger area than the simulated task rooms. This proved surprisingly difficult, and there were a lot of human team members pushing the vehicles back from interactions with barriers.</span></div>
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</ul>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bFFMLUDuNCE/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bFFMLUDuNCE?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe><br>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">UNLV’s “</span><a href="http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/finalist/drc-hubo" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Metal Rebel</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” completing the Drive Task successfully.</span></i><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px; line-height: 20.2399997711182px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>(NOTE: You can view any of these videos full-screen by clicking on the button in the lower-right corner of the YouTube video windows.)</i></span></span> </blockquote>
<div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Egress Task </b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(1 point) - the robot must exit the vehicle and move about six feet away across a goal line. Teams were allowed to quickly modify the vehicles (without tools) to assist their robots in this task. Some extended simple structures out of the sides of the vehicles to serve as “handrails,” or other temporary stabilization points, and one team threw out a box on ropes to serve as a helper step for their walking robot (not all robots walked, some had wheels and tracked belts). This Task was particularly risky, and I heard a comment somewhere that teams didn’t appreciate the jeopardy that this Task presented to their robots early in the 60-minute completion window. Crashing here (and we saw some big crashes stepping out of vehicles) could prevent a team from earning more than the single Drive Task point.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-image: url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/aE0ezeMti24/0.jpg); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/aE0ezeMti24/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aE0ezeMti24?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span><span style="font-size: 14.6666666666667px;"><br></span><i style="line-height: 1.38;"><span style="line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline;">Here’s Worchester Polytechnic Institute’s and Carnegie Mellon University’s joint entry “</span><a href="http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/finalist/wpi" style="line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Warner</span></a><span style="line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline;">” rehearsing Egress the week before the event. If this seems slow, know that some robots took 10-15 minutes to complete one task - most of which was standing in one place and “thinking.”</span></i></span> </blockquote>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Door Task</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1 point) - the robot must open the door (with a lever-style handle), push the door open, and walk across the threshold to gain 1 point. Sounds simple, but we witnessed several failures - including big “crashes” - right here. Many ‘bots stood at the doorway for several minutes, apparently assessing the position of the door and handle.</span></div>
</li>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">
</span>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/z-XcuU8RHcg/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z-XcuU8RHcg?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span><br>
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Team NEDO-JSK’s “<a href="http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/finalist/nedo">Jaxon</a>” earns a point by walking through a doorway. There’s nothing like hearing thousands of people cheer because someone walks through a doorway. (I’d accidentally written that as “walks through a door,” which might have been more than a typo at this event.)</span></i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ObfO2nlL0KM/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ObfO2nlL0KM?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>Tartan Rescue’s “<a href="http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/finalist/tartan-rescue">CHIMP</a>” demonstrates that its unique design allows it to recover from a crisis in the Door Task which would have been a failure for many other designs.</i></span></blockquote>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Valve Task</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1 point) - this task was specifically inspired by events in the wake of the Fukishima disaster. A wheel-type control valve handle must be rotated counterclockwise 360 degrees to earn a point. This is trickier than it sounds. When we do a task like this, we’re unconsciously shifting our weight on our feet to compensate for the forces we impart into the wheel.</span></div>
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<i><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Bs-ilew57NM/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Bs-ilew57NM?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></i> </blockquote>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-7a9815ea-0bc2-ff53-9cef-0f0b62a3e7cf"><i><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">UNLV’s </span><a href="http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/finalist/drc-hubo" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Metal Rebel</span></a></i><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i> wins a point at the Valve Task</i>.</span></span></blockquote>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Wall Task</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1 point) - in this impressive challenge, robots select from any of four handheld (human) cordless cutting tools on a wall shelf (most robots knocked off at least one other tool during the task - which was not penalized). They then must completely cut a painted shape out of a section of drywall. All robots simply dropped the tool on the floor upon completion of the task, revealing that there was no specification for the final disposition of the tool. Most robots managed this pretty well. A few missed the painted target slightly, cutting slightly through the circumference of the black circle. But all that we saw managed to take a second cut and earn the point.</span></div>
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<i><iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/q-4h8-WjSRI/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q-4h8-WjSRI?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br>See NASA JPL’s <a href="http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/finalist/robosimian">RoboSimian</a> make the cut to a cheering crowd in the Wall Task.</i></blockquote>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Surprise Task</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1 point) - the “surprise” of this task is that DARPA didn’t inform teams what the task was until the day before the competition. However, I just found video of a team rehearsing what would be the Surprise Task back in March 2015, so I guess that suggests that it was a surprise choice from a known collection of tasks. The surprise task turned out to be unplugging an industrial electrical cord and plug from one outlet at “chest height,” and plugging into another. If we pulled a plug at this height, we would unconsciously have to shift our weight backward and forward to prevent from tipping as we pulled and pushed on the plug or cord. For some of the bipedal robots we watched, this tipping proved disastrous.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px;"><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/arhlZ1r208k/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/arhlZ1r208k?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br><i style="font-size: 14.6666666666667px;"><span style="font-size: 14.6666666666667px;">South Korean </span><a href="http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/finalist/kaist" style="font-size: 14.6666666666667px;">Team KAIST</a><span style="font-size: 14.6666666666667px;"> (who would go on to win the Finals and $2 million) practices the Plug Task months before the Finals.</span></i></blockquote>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rubble Task</b></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1 point) - to complete this task, the robot must either cross over an uneven arrangement of cinder blocks (these were meticulously identical on each of the four competition stages), or negotiate an alternate obstacle: an assortment of loose “debris” on a smooth floor. They were allowed to simply pick up the debris, but no robot we saw attempted that strategy. Notably, we saw one robot simply push its way through the debris (each piece of debris weighs less than 5 pounds) to cross the yellow line earning it the point for the task, though it did risk catching both ends of some long pieces, which might have prevented it from continuing to roll across the smooth floor.</span></li>
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<i style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wHfegkaydOU/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wHfegkaydOU?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></i><br>
<i style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline;">Team IHMC Robotics “</span><a href="http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/finalist/ihmc" style="line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Running Man</span></a><span style="line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline;">” attempts unsuccessfully to negotiate the Rubble Task.</span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Stairs Task</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1 point) - for the last possible point-earning task, robots could climb four steps to a railed platform. There was a handrail on one side of the stairs. Strategies for climbing these stairs varied from the human-like approach of many frighteningly top-heavy bipedal designs to the monkey-like climb of NASA JPL’s RoboSimian.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ckaGMqec1VU/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ckaGMqec1VU?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></i></span><br>
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Team Tartan Rescue’s “<a href="http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/finalist/tartan-rescue">CHIMP</a>” uses the unique tracked belts on its four limbs to complete the final task for the maximum 8 points to win the $500K third-place prize.</i></blockquote>
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</span><span style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-image: url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Drc51FL2GIM/0.jpg); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Drc51FL2GIM/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Drc51FL2GIM?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span><span style="font-size: 14.6666666666667px;"><br></span><span style="line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline;">“</span><a href="http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/finalist/ihmc" style="line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Running Man</span></a><span style="line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline;">” shows us all just how NOT to climb the stairs. Despite this fall and the Rubble Task fall on Day 1 of Finals, Team IHMC affected repairs overnight and to compete on Day 2 and finished in 2nd place overall.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A full description of the eight robot tasks is here on </span><a href="http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/overview" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DARPA’s overview page</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for the Robotics Challenge Finals.</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Our Takeaway</span></span></h3>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We were delightfully surprised at the efforts of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to share this project with taxpayers. The event was well run, and the presentation was watchable and captivating. Watching robots slowly attempting each task was thrilling to watch - the sense of risk was not dissimilar to that of an Olympic athlete risking a lifetime of devoted practice and development, only to lose it all in a single fall. Hearing a crowd of people cheering and "Oh!"ing in unison at almost imperceptible accomplishments of these sometimes lifelike machines was unexpected, and added considerably to the experience.</span><br>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Having watched online videos of the progress of walking robots over the past decade, we were <i>still</i> impressed at the state of the art - no doubt advanced by this competition. It wasn't so much about locomotion, but the apparently autonomous operations. Ironically, because of pauses which sometimes lasted several minutes, it was apparent that we were seeing software routines attempting to interpret the conditions of the environment with which the robots were presented. And the success rate of the competing robots shows how those teams rose to the occasion.</span><br>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Will tomorrow's robots be better-suited at helping humans to perform perilous tasks in the near future? Most certainly. Moreover, it's easy for us to imagine that in the very near future, we might be seeing machines capable of adapting and reacting to their environment in ways that resemble living animals.</span><br>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I'm looking forward to it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">More DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals Videos</span></h2>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BGOUSvaQcBs/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BGOUSvaQcBs?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>
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<i style="line-height: 1.38;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Time lapse of the winning 44 minute, 28 second, 8-point run of Team KAIST’s “</span><a href="http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/finalist/kaist" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DRC-HUBO</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,” earning the Daejeon, South Korean team a $2 million prize. </span></i></div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KgKfCCS1zeE/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KgKfCCS1zeE?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here is a time lapse video of TEAM IHMC Robotics “</span><a href="http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/finalist/ihmc" style="line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Running Man</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” completing their entire 50 minute, 21 second, 8-point run for a $1 million 2nd-place prize.</span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here is </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/DARPAtv" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DARPA’s YouTube channel</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, on which they have posted an 8 and half hour video of Day 1’s competition, and almost 9.5 hours of Day 2 (your Tax Dollars at work).</span></div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NeFkrwagYfc/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NeFkrwagYfc?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br><span style="line-height: 1.38;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>The video directors of the DARPA Robotics Challenge (which was being streamed live to the Internet, as well as to the five huge video displays behind the competition stages) played this </i></span><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>hilarious blooper reel</i></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i> from the previous day’s competition even while the last dozen teams were agonizingly tending their robot’s last-ever competition day. It seemed a little cruel to those teams who had suffered these indignities, but I don’t blame the organizers for trying to make the event entertaining - the audience (and we) were in rapt attention during the challenge stages, and oohed, ahhed, gasped, laughed and applauded with more enthusiasm than they might have at many human-based events.</i></span></span></blockquote>
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<i>Boston Dynamics demonstrated a couple of their "Spot" quadrupeds - stunning</i></div>
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Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-27134470194957671312015-06-15T15:01:00.001-07:002018-10-21T13:35:32.123-07:00Comments about eBay article: 10 “Before Their Time” Technology Devices<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>(Several friends shared this eBay article on facebook. What started out as a "Comment" grew to, well, this.)</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /> Original eBay article: '<a href="http://www.ebay.com/gds/10-Before-Their-Time-Technology-Devices-/10000000202446018/g.html?roken2=tf.p.bSkc=.g103.cfb#prclt-ta3Ni91m">10 “Before Their Time” Technology Devices</a>'<br /><br /><br />Oh my, yes, I know all these items well, save the Polavision . . .</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Apple Newton & Palm PDA</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I still regret not collecting a Newton somewhere along the way. <br /><br />I used Palm OS for almost a decade. I can probably do 50-60 words per minute in Graffiti(TM). I carried a cable in my pocket so I could Web browse via a connection through my Motorola StarTac (the best cell phone ever) and RAZRs (with a mild hack to allow them to act as a modem.</span><br />
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Mattel Power Glove</h3>
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I attended all 24 continuous hours of the Cyberthon virtual reality convention in San Francisco (not sleeping from waking in L.A. until I was on the plane to fly back from SFO 40 hours later), at which I saw Mattel PowerGlove co-developer and VR evangelist Jaron Lanier speak. I also used many "goggle and glove" immersive VR rigs using Lanier's VPL Data Gloves, which measures the amount of bend in each finger joint by measuring the change in light refraction in optical fibers which were slightly cut at the joint. </div>
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Sony Digital Cassette Players/Recorders</h3>
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Never owned a DAT recorder, but told anyone who would listen of the Recording Industry Association of America's efforts to thwart what they perceived as a dangerous vector for music piracy. DAT recorders were delayed introduction to the U.S. thanks to the RIAA's lobbying efforts. The RIAA also mandated a federal trade restriction that DAT recorders sold in the U.S. were required to incorporate technology to detect and honor commercial recordings that were "marked" with a notch filter (a tiny part of the sound spectrum was artificially removed from recordings - if the CopyCode-enabled DAT recorder saw no audio level in that narrow band of frequencies, it would refuse to go into Record mode). DAT technology never succeeded in the consumer marketplace, but saw some application in professional audio production. </div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">These strategies are still practiced by the movie and music industries, which is why we never got a replacement for VCRs, and you can't really share that story you saw on television with your grandfather. He'll just have to wait and see if anyone cares to offer it for sale, and if so, he'll have to get a broadband Internet connection, a credit card and an HDTV to see that program, because only a monitor with HDCP technology will convince his new streaming media player that he's not trying to pirate a digitally-perfect copy of that story about Korean War ships by inserting some data capture device between the streaming box and TV. You and your grandpa look like pirates to the MPAA and RIAA. If you read the fine print of those 40-page user agreements you've been checking "yes" to, you'll find that the music, movies and TV shows you've been "buying" on steaming services certainly aren't "yours," and the next time you want to listen to or watch one of your purchases, you may find its no longer playable for reasons that mean nothing to you.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Lest you think that your cable/satellite DVR fulfills the functionality of your old VCRs, the MPAA has poked its paranoid nose in there as well. If you haven't encountered it yet, cable and satellite providers have incorporated infrastructure into their business agreements, data networks and your DVRs so that you can be prohibited from recording any given show on your DVR, and already recorded shows can be rendered unplayable.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If I'm ranting, it's because we're being mistrusted by entertainment industry heads who wrong-headedly believe that it's possible to stanch the losses of media piracy by globally impeding the cultural and humanitarian benefits of communications technology. The truth is that because digital media can be infinitely and perfectly copied, only a single determined pirate has to be successful to pirate intellectual material. In reality, thousands of clever profit-oriented pirates are picking away at any given time at whatever weaknesses they can exploit, and those of us who are actually paying money that goes to MPAA and RIAA members and signatories for our entertainment content - we get treated like criminals and the notion of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use">Fair Use</a> is further eroded.</span></div>
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Polaroid Polavision</h3>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It strikes me as odd that this is the only product on this list which doesn't ring a bell, since I started shooting experimental Polaroid stills and making Super-8 movies in 1971 or so, and became fascinated with the instant-playback promise of the $1,795 1/4" AKAI videotape recorder being sold in the 1971/2 Lafayette Radio Electronics catalog. My production life began with my family giving me a Norelco Philips cassette recorder around 1967 (almost the year that format debuted), so just the mention of "videotape" was enough to explain what that might mean to the 11 year old filmmaking me. </span></div>
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MSN TV (WebTV)</h3>
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Before it was "MSN TV," WebTV offered a way for citizens to have Internet email and rudimentary Web browsing without owning "a computer." Obviously a purpose-built computing appliance itself, WebTV used the consumer's television as a display device. This presented a familiar experience to other TV-connected devices (i.e., VCRs, video game consoles, DVD players), and made using the Internet a non-threatening, "family room" experience. But as the content of the World Wide Web became richer and more sophisticated (in the first years of the Web, there weren't even images), trying to view Web pages became more and more challenging. Microsoft bought WebTV in the late '90s at which point it had over 800,000 subscribers generating over a billion dollars of annual revenue. But personal computers would win out over Internet appliances (too bad, really - no one should have to maintain a computer if all they do is email and facebook), and MSN TV was shuttered at the end of 2013. </div>
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<h3 style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
Coleco Electronic Quarterback</h3>
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"Coleco Electronic Quarterback?" Hey, Mattel Electronic Football was first, and while it didn't offer passing and kicking, it should get the mention. I took my Electronic Football along on the Campbell College Jazz Band tour in 1979. I'd hear the strangely syncopated "Charge!" tune play from somewhere on our former Greyhound bus as my band mates passed it around during our tour of eastern North Carolina high schools. Here's me demonstrating the game when my friend Riley sent me one in December 2012 (I still have my original as well):</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lqY4-xfF4yA/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lqY4-xfF4yA?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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Dragon NaturallySpeaking</h3>
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Dragon NaturallySpeaking was the best attempt at machine speech-to-text in a consumer product to date when it debuted in the late '90s. But for me, a pretty fast touch-typist, it was far more mentally constipating to learn to speak my thoughts perfectly as separate words (most of us use a lot more "ums" and "uhs" than we realize until it's transcribed by a computer), and far too much work to edit after the fact than composing on a keyboard. Today, some of the best speech-to-text gets done remotely on massive computing platforms after streaming your audio somewhere else in the world over an Internet connection (something I anticipated over 20 years ago, before we had the Internet in our pockets), rather than getting done locally on your computer. When Joni was in college, one of her professors was interested in machine speech detection, but said that the task of parsing "connected speech" - actual conversation where the starts and stops of each word overlap - was devilishly difficult. Her professor wasn't wrong. It took three decades of exponential performance improvements - millions of times the computer speed - as well as intensive research to achieve the amazing speech recognition that's at our fingertips today. As with a human brain (but still not nearly as good), modern speech recognition systems try to guess what the likeliest words to follow already interpreted words would be. And Google even knows where you are and what else you've been searching for recently, so it also applies that to its guesswork. If you always wanted to talk into the air to your computer assistant, it's pretty much here. </div>
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Diamond Rio MP3 Player</h3>
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I bought a Diamond Rio 500 MP3 player - the third MP3 player product from that company. I played a little music on it, and used it to listen to Audible audiobooks (Rios were among the first devices to support Audible's encryption scheme). But when we got the first iPod (the beautiful if bulky 5GB model with a hard drive and FireWire connectivity), there was no going back. Actually, I dug the Rio out of retirement briefly to play podcasts while at the gym, but it again got bumped by the superior experience of a tiny iPod nano. </div>
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<h3 style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
AT&T Videophone 2500</h3>
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Forty-eight years ago, I attended the Expo '67 World's Fair in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Inside the iconic U.S. Pavillion, a massive Buckminster Fuller geodesic sphere, I talked to my father (50 feet away) on an AT&T Picturephone. In retrospect, the exhibit hardly represented the immense amount of money AT&T are purported to have spent on developing the technology. The demo was just two phones and two closed-circuit cameras and CRTs. Pushing a button on your phone caused you and your caller to see only themselves - a nod to the notion that we're not always, uh, presentable. Over the decades, I never really missed that particular Vision of Tomorrow from Yesterday. I would often hear people proclaim, "Where's my Picturephone," but I couldn't really imagine too many of my acquaintances caring to participate. I played with videoconferencing on personal computers in the early '90s. At a time when maintaining a dialup data connection could be challenging, successful video chat was, to say the least, frustrating. One user would have picture but no sound, and the other would hear your sound playing back many times slower than normal time. So you were still listening to a short sentence of them saying, "disconnect and I'll call you on the phone" (at normal pitch, but each syllable sounding for seconds) two minutes after they'd given up after three busy signals. I know families separated by great distances who video chat regularly. And when Joni and I have been traveling separately during the last decade or so of well-developed video chat, it's been wonderful just to look at each other wordlessly. We set up video chat cameras on our moms' computers (and even on a "smart TV"), but after the novelty wore off, we discovered that you eventually stop looking at each other in the second or third hour of conversation, and we haven't video chatted with them much in years. Today, even having a Picturephone in my pocket doesn't play a part in my daily life.</div>
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Ubiquitous access to videoconferencing did provide an <a href="http://roughage.blogspot.com/2007/05/telepresence.html">experience I found worth sharing</a> back in 2007.</div>
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<i>"What's possible" and "what exists" have been passionate topics for me as long as I can remember. I grew up in the glorious Space Age and was inundated media mythology of the spy-wiz technology of the Cold War (some of which was true, and much of which has come to pass). In these times, when so much technological might has become everyday magic for the uncurious masses, I still Want To Know. </i></div>
</div>
Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-73446983718877617292015-05-19T13:52:00.002-07:002015-05-19T13:52:57.613-07:00Advanced Searches in the Mac FinderEver wanted to find everything in a Mac's folder <i>except</i> something, like "everything <i>except</i> folders named '_notes'?" You can actually do <i>Boolean searches</i> in the Finder, but in their typical fashion, Apple hasn't made this "power user" feature obvious, apparently to avoid confusing the typical casual user.<br />
<br />
This <i>Macworld</i> article explains how to make the most of <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/1132817/spotlight3.html"><i>Advanced searches in the Finder</i></a>.Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-9945502572981204432015-04-05T16:33:00.002-07:002015-04-05T16:33:42.248-07:00Camera Sensor Size & Crop Factor DemonstrationI created a short video to graphically demonstrate the consequences of exchanging lenses (assuming compatible physical mounting systems) between cameras with image sensors of different sizes.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://usefulbulk.com/cropfactor/">Camera Sensor Size & Crop Factor</a>Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-58251990687290278532015-03-05T17:39:00.000-08:002015-03-05T17:39:41.806-08:00How Does Facebook Know My Browsing History?<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yesterday (March 2, 2015), in a private email response to a friend about a movie actor with which I’d worked, I found a still image of that actor in that movie on Google Image Search. I went off on a tangent about doing lighting in that very scene, and (as I am wont to do) when I made a reference to a specific kind of motion-picture lighting instrument, I looked up that instrument in a Google search, thinking that the friend would be interested in seeing more about the specific device. Not able to find the actual manufacturer’s web page for an “LTM Pepper 100 Watt Fresnel Tungsten Light,” I copied the URL for the top Google match, a page from the online store for photography retail giant B&H Photo in New York City. However, I </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">forgot to include the link</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in the email (which I didn’t discover until doing some sleuthing today). </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So at this point yesterday afternoon, all I’d done was visited that B&H Photo web page, and written and sent some email and NOT included a link to this web page.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4llQ8IYP1o89bNGFJVjiFR2qmA0ubPa7SKrdBDKodjf2jA2A5_2ateP0BQG4O8vFj3qv_kxkM9gFFvxVcRYh2cZvY2xVQobfXir8nszGHWxm_r05UaO7Y5yYNO6jOOZNMTYpOUnqXSWm6/s1600/fb_bh_like.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4llQ8IYP1o89bNGFJVjiFR2qmA0ubPa7SKrdBDKodjf2jA2A5_2ateP0BQG4O8vFj3qv_kxkM9gFFvxVcRYh2cZvY2xVQobfXir8nszGHWxm_r05UaO7Y5yYNO6jOOZNMTYpOUnqXSWm6/s1600/fb_bh_like.jpg" height="400" width="225" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today, when I first looked at facebook on my phone, I saw (see screenshot) the now-familiar image of an LTM Pepper 100 Watt instrument in a thumbnail of a B&H Photo page, and facebook informed me that two of my Friends had “Liked” “B&H Photo Pro Video Audio.” </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What? I’d never communicated about that lighting instrument on facebook - only in private email. I looked at my previous day’s email to see where I’d included the link to the B&H LTM Pepper page, and discovered that I’d forgotten to even include the link in that email.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">COOKIES</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Part of what was at work to produce this result was an </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HTTP cookie</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> from my web browser. What are cookies? They are little bits of text, stored in a place accessible to the user’s web browser by a website. When the user re-visits a site, the site requests that the browser look for its own cookies in that storage place. What do they store? Mostly information that makes visiting their website a better experience for the visitor. Preferences about which language you’d like to view, whether you’ve visited before, and which of their pages you’ve already view are among the many possible bits of information cookies can store. Websites promise theoretical anonymity about user identity in cookies, and attempt to avoid inclusion of information which users might find an invasion of privacy. (See “More Information About Cookies” below for links to help you control your browser’s behavior with cookies.) Because users can view the contents of these cookies themselves (procedures vary, search for something like “view cookie contents <your browser="" name="">”), there’s the promise of transparency about what kind of information is shared, and there is risk in giving the impression that user's personal data might be revealed to others (even though that happens all the time).</your></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi88RCIx-KW9d2XPGQS965u9l4zbYRsKDsIHnmwWXAFcYykGbmxrk_d2TGDWRP_WrgYYcal6d8L0m5BkF87YrDQoNdAuc89oNpIpCCrUM85penZsJ5WDS_elzw3oXXrEoAUhqLeamkCMXK_/s1600/B&H-Photo-Cookie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi88RCIx-KW9d2XPGQS965u9l4zbYRsKDsIHnmwWXAFcYykGbmxrk_d2TGDWRP_WrgYYcal6d8L0m5BkF87YrDQoNdAuc89oNpIpCCrUM85penZsJ5WDS_elzw3oXXrEoAUhqLeamkCMXK_/s1600/B&H-Photo-Cookie.jpg" height="566" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was the cookie that the B&H Photo site stored on my computer. (This was viewed in Google Chrome browser at chrome://settings/cookies.) </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjm3O4wAVchJo02CJU5d4eWl6vEF2YFhcuhhBGtWgY9c2dBbLJthKEMUzKOeSs9ImwVjew5ccltjkfd-f4c208OloiqfIJ9oh92yZ5SpddmrHgHFTQu2-FoJdi0uI04X5JrCveo7VKnLEb/s1600/gizmodo_amazon_dropin.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjm3O4wAVchJo02CJU5d4eWl6vEF2YFhcuhhBGtWgY9c2dBbLJthKEMUzKOeSs9ImwVjew5ccltjkfd-f4c208OloiqfIJ9oh92yZ5SpddmrHgHFTQu2-FoJdi0uI04X5JrCveo7VKnLEb/s1600/gizmodo_amazon_dropin.png" height="140" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was searching for garbage disposal splash guards earlier this<br />
week, and they just showed up on this tech site's ad insert </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 22.0799999237061px;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You may have seen an ad for a specific kind of item you’ve previously shopped for online popping up in a frame on another site. Indeed, as I was just researching to write this article, a web page popular technology site Gizmodo.com displayed an Amazon ad with the very garbage disposal splash guards I was perusing on the Amazon site this week. That’s clearly a customized “drop in” ad which only I will see, and was generated in only two or three seconds (amazing) between the time I requested that page and it actually displayed in my browser. In this case, Gizmodo has deliberately put code in their web page that lets Amazon run their own web browsing session in a little window. From within that session, Amazon can access the cookies they set on my computer in previous visits to their site.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br class="kix-line-break" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FACEBOOK KNOWS?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So how does </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>facebook</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> know about something I searched for on my browser? Well, until somewhat recently, how data collected from your online activities crossed between different websites depended upon both of those sites having common ownership, or one selling cookie information and the other buying cookie information, or both sites subscribing to services which aggregated and shared cookies between subscribing businesses. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What’s new here is that facebook made it look like my two friends had an interest in exactly the item to which I had simply browsed on the B&H website at some time in the past, without my posting about it on facebook or even knowing that B&H had a facebook page.</span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I just wrote the two friends to ask when they "Liked" the B&H page, and whether they actually saw the LTM Pepper page in their facebook feeds. I’ve only gotten one response so far, but he Liked the B&H facebook page no more recently than a year ago, and had never seen the page with the LTM lighting instrument.</span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Facebook has been trying to make the most of combining its position as the world's largest social-networking site with targeted advertising. Using only the "Like" feature with commercial facebook pages, they claim to have had substantial success in profiling their users for some characteristics, and attempt to use those profiles to present "appropriate" advertising to each user. But among other things, many users don't contribute Likes in their fb activities.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 2014, facebook began </span><a href="http://adage.com/article/digital/facebook-web-browsing-history-ad-targeting/293656/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">employing a new mechanism</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to track the web browsing activities of users </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>outside of facebook</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. It can’t see </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>everything</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> a user does with their browsers - among the techniques employed, facebook takes advantage of a mechanism used for their advertisers to know if people are visiting their website because of facebook ads. So it only works for certain sites. But facebook is so big that few online businesses can resist advertising with them, and therefore using their tracking system.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So just as with the Amazon garbage disposal splash guard ads I saw on a 3rd-party site, I’m the only one seeing the LTM Pepper page at the B&H Photo website on my facebook Mobile wall (I saw no sign of this B&H link on the desktop version of fb). But when facebook finds a correlation between information gleaned from my browsing history with any of my social connections who have "Liked" a commercial site, it looks like my Friends are providing testimonials for an item which I’ve viewed on the Web. In fact, neither of those two fb Friends ever knew about the LTM Pepper; that I had visited the B&H site; or about each other.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hey, facebook is a for-profit, publicly-traded company, and have a duty to their stockholders to make money. We live in a capitalistic society. Still, in pursuit of a more effective way to serve their advertisers, changes like these which could potentially seem “creepy” or invasive to their users seem like a risk to their user base, and their dominating position in the social-networking world is anything but assured.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">NOW WHAT DO I DO?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If this has made you paranoid about cookies, I wouldn’t be too concerned, just know that they’re there, and that they could reveal something about your online habits. If you’re uncomfortable with the idea, you could try disabling cookies and observing which of your favorite websites no longer work the way you’d like them to. You can then selectively allow sites you trust or can't live without to use cookies to restore useful functionality. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(For what it’s worth, I allow full cookie access, and just know that whatever I might be doing online isn’t exactly private.)</span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are also ways to browse for a single session or all sessions without storing any information on your computer. Search for “private browsing <your browser="" name="">” for more information.</your></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HOW DO I KEEP FACEBOOK FROM TRACKING MY WEB HISTORY?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you want to opt-out of facebook’s tracking system, here are some articles which detail the steps required:</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wired</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: </span><a href="http://www.wired.com/2014/06/facebook-ad-tracking/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stop Facebook from Using YourWeb History for Ad Targeting</span></a></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Online Privacy Blog</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: </span><a href="https://www.abine.com/blog/2014/facebook-tracking-browsing/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Facebook will now track your browsing history on external sites & mobile apps</span></a></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gizmodo</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: </span><a href="http://gizmodo.com/how-to-stop-facebook-from-sharing-your-browsing-history-1589918083" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How to Stop Facebook From Using Your Browsing History</span></a></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MORE INFORMATION ABOUT COOKIES</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here’s a nice </span><a href="http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cookie.htm" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">article about Internet Cookies</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Marshall Brain.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the following pages, you can find out how to completely or selectively disable cookie activity, and delete some or all of the cookies already stored by your browsers:</span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here is a non-profit site dedicated to the topic: </span><a href="http://www.aboutcookies.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.aboutcookies.org/</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. It’s a bit out of date, but the information is good.</span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here is a U.S. Government page </span><a href="https://www.onguardonline.gov/articles/0042-cookies-leaving-trail-web" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cookies: Leaving a Trail on the Web</span></a></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. . . and here is the page by the non-profit digital rights organization </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Electronic Frontier Foundation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> titled </span><a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/04/4-simple-changes-protect-your-privacy-online" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4 Simple Changes to Stop Online Tracking</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-81486316507404955662014-09-23T20:58:00.000-07:002014-09-23T20:58:32.931-07:00Use Your iPhone 6 Plus One-Handed with AssistiveTouchYou probably don't think about how often you've used your smartphone with one hand. We're adaptable that way, and when we're carrying a baby or waiting in line with our basket of groceries, we just instinctively whip our our Pocket Window To The World and keep going.<div>
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But phones are getting big. VERY big. Last week, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus joined the marketplace of large-display smartphones, to the relief of Apple Faithful who have suffered screen-size-envy and the torment of their Android-toting companions for years. </div>
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But bigger isn't always better. And one of the ramifications of smartphones getting bigger is the challenge of using them with one hand. The increased size of displays means that human fingers and thumbs can't reach all their margins, and the increased size of the entire phone makes it awkward or impossible to grip securely, especially for those with smaller hands and fingers. While playing with an iPhone 6 Plus in an Apple Store this week to decide whether I was really going to want to live with the new form-factor, I discovered an unexpected solution to assisting one-handed operation had been built into the iOS operating system three years ago.<br /><div>
<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHxK6GPWpoCrJJv96FSQFAK0-NgF9PEUyDOcjU19_d6s73wBtOsuxz_nqW8OoEkKXIu2ixd9lVLDgZScjU65IhDszVo3SIkbL77vdslFqiC0hLxyhsrILLNWxa9konnNQE5N4XxuTBB3DQ/s1600/AT-menu-on-iP6+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHxK6GPWpoCrJJv96FSQFAK0-NgF9PEUyDOcjU19_d6s73wBtOsuxz_nqW8OoEkKXIu2ixd9lVLDgZScjU65IhDszVo3SIkbL77vdslFqiC0hLxyhsrILLNWxa9konnNQE5N4XxuTBB3DQ/s1600/AT-menu-on-iP6+.jpg" height="400" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Thanks to AssistiveTouch, I can perform many useful actions one-handed<br />on the monstrous iPhone 6 Plus, even with my stubby thumbs</i></td></tr>
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<h3>
Apple's Big-Screen Solutions</h3>
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Apple has provided several solutions to address their users interacting with larger phones. For the larger-screened iPhone 6 Plus, Apple has provided a feature of iOS 8 they call "Reachability." When the user taps the Home button twice quickly <i>(note that this is not <b>pressing</b> the Home button, but only touching it enough for what I presume is the Touch ID sensor to register an event)</i>, the displayed content shifts down the screen <i>(making the bottom of the content temporarily unavailable)</i>, allowing easier access to on-screen controls at the top of the raster.<br />
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Apple has also introduced new app gestures in Mail and Safari that allow users to swipe between emails and web pages. And now that Apple allows the use of third-party text-entry mechanisms <i>(finally!)</i>, I assume that there will be many one-handed keyboards which work within one thumb's reach, although I haven't seen any as yet.<br />
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Despite these efforts to enable users to work with the largest-ever iPhone display, one-handed operation presents a challenge.<br />
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<h3>
Apple AssistiveTouch</h3>
Hidden within your iPhone's Settings app are a number of features which are designed to aid users who have accessibility issues. These <a href="https://www.apple.com/accessibility/">accessibility features</a> include solutions for vision, hearing, and physical & motor skills. Vision assistance includes altering the display characteristics for special low-vision conditions, and "screen reading" technology allows users to have their device speak to guide them when operating the device; to read text; and even identify colors of their clothing for coordinating their wardrobe.<br />
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Among the technologies designed to accommodate restricted physical skills on iOS devices <i>(iPhones, iPod touch and iPad)</i> is Apple's <a href="http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5587?viewlocale=en_SA&locale=en_SA">AssistiveTouch</a>. Designed for users who may have difficulty performing multi-touch "pinch" and "swipe" gestures, or simply holding the device while performing touch-screen actions, AssistiveTouch provides a solution for performing all of these commands with a single finger or pointer. In addition to operating controls normally associated with hardware-based buttons, and some commands which are typically invoked with a gesture (i.e., swiping down from the top of the screen to open the Notification Center), AssistiveTouch allows users to "record" gestures, and play them back on command.<br />
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<h3>
One-Handed Help</h3>
Of particular interest to even physically-capable users, AssistiveTouch provides access to a pop-up menu from which the user can invoke actions normally requiring the press of a hardware button or swiping gestures on the display.<br />
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It has been a long-discussed contention that <i>(until now)</i> Apple chose not to create iPhones with larger displays because of a sensibility that the user should be able to reach all the real-estate of the touch-screen display with the same hand in which the device is held. True or not, few humans have the hand size, dexterity or willingness to risk dropping a $1,000 device <i>(the un-subsidized price of a 128GB iPhone 6 Plus is $949 before taxes)</i> which allows them to safely press the all-important Home button on an iPhone 6 Plus without using a second hand.<br />
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />It's tricky to grip an iPhone 6 Plus in a manner in which the all-important Home button can be safely pressed with the gripping hand without the risk of losing control of the awkwardly-sized device <i>(it's worth noting that you can operate an iPhone 6 with the Home button at the <b>top</b> of the display - that might provide some previously unavailable grip options).</i> Even if you can hold the phone and press the Home button with one hand, it's then impossible for most users to reach to the top of the screen to swipe down the Notification Center. Likewise difficult is swiping up from screen bottom to open the Control Center if you have a grip which allows access to the the Notification Center and the top 1/3 of the screen.<br />
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Enabling <i>AssistiveTouch</i></h3>
To enable AssistiveTouch:<br />
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<b>Go to Settings > General > Accessibility, and turn on AssistiveTouch</b>. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7cbRgUs4Yarjw9uvINarV92as0JZRsCp0iLiQT08AFas-h9VK8cKqVB8fpBVXZMLOGR7_ISbRE2K0xobOzSjPwccyh8XGGWxmAax7XSrHSfkmH28MVQ2BV_S3wCF8YCyZT_vB3QYcstMW/s1600/AccessibilityMenus3up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7cbRgUs4Yarjw9uvINarV92as0JZRsCp0iLiQT08AFas-h9VK8cKqVB8fpBVXZMLOGR7_ISbRE2K0xobOzSjPwccyh8XGGWxmAax7XSrHSfkmH28MVQ2BV_S3wCF8YCyZT_vB3QYcstMW/s1600/AccessibilityMenus3up.jpg" height="312" width="640" /></a></div>
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After you turn on AssistiveTouch, a round "menu button" floats transparently on the perimeter of the screen. You can drag the menu button to any edge: left, top, right, bottom, and it will persist there until you move it or turn off AssistiveTouch. The menu button becomes opaque when you tap it, but after about four seconds on inactivity, it become transparent enough to read through. <i>(If you position the menu button at the bottom of the screen, when the on-screen keyboard appears, the menu button pops up to the bottom of the remaining display to provide you clear access to the keyboard.)</i><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPVgHUUcWtb8WNGP3v6U0RWIKcEwKdGDcMi62dXLxg-BEUsIeWi_T3rshaJrrvuCrNXylDfufpYGEgqSQZAb4C0XRMRj5J58kgAc6cPGdWeK4nyxtBgr4x4loYXx7UUTs_z_N4IjAy0jHF/s1600/AT-menu-button_arrow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPVgHUUcWtb8WNGP3v6U0RWIKcEwKdGDcMi62dXLxg-BEUsIeWi_T3rshaJrrvuCrNXylDfufpYGEgqSQZAb4C0XRMRj5J58kgAc6cPGdWeK4nyxtBgr4x4loYXx7UUTs_z_N4IjAy0jHF/s1600/AT-menu-button_arrow.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>AssistiveTouch's menu button can be positioned anywhere around the edge of the display</i></td></tr>
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AssistiveTouch provides access to many actions, including:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Home Button<i> (if you have a failing Home button, this could be a lifesaver)</i></li>
<li>Volume Down/Up</li>
<li>Mute/Unmute Volume</li>
<li>Notification Center</li>
<li>Control Center</li>
<li>Lock Screen</li>
<li>Rotate Screen</li>
<li>Shake<i> (you did know that you shake your phone to "Undo," right?)</i></li>
<li>Screenshot</li>
<li>Multitasking</li>
<li>2, 3, 4 and 5 finger swipes</li>
<li>Activate Siri</li>
</ul>
<i>(As yet, Reachability is apparently not available from AssistiveTouch)</i><br /><div>
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<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you find secure one-handed operation of your iPhone 6 Plus challenging, perhaps enabling AssistiveTouch will help. It takes one or two more taps than usual to accomplish some of these tasks using AssistiveTouch, but if you find yourself standing at the subway station with a bag of groceries in your hand and wish you could check on your incoming messages with the other, you probably won't mind the extra effort.</div>
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<div>
<i>(AssistiveTouch is only available on devices running iOS 5 and higher. AssistiveTouch features vary with device and iOS version. You can enable AssistiveTouch on whatever iOS device you currently have, to see if it might be your ticket to one-handed iPhone 6 Plus happiness.)</i></div>
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<div>
Apple Support document: <i><a href="http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5587?viewlocale=en_SA&locale=en_SA">Using AssistiveTouch on your iOS device</a></i></div>
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<h3>
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Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-1678515929900126242014-09-17T13:30:00.001-07:002014-09-17T13:30:11.270-07:00Test to See If Your Gmail Address Was on the Leaked List<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Recently in the news, "5 million" Gmail account names and passwords were leaked into the public domain. </span><a href="https://lastpass.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">LastPass</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a service whose product promises secure password storage and utilization,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> acquired the now-public text file of Gmail data and analyzed it, and </span><a href="http://blog.lastpass.com/2014/09/the-scary-truth-about-your-passwords.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">published some patterns and trends</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in password use. (LastPass presumably did this both a public service and self-promotion.)</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-1974ea17-854d-e50f-7cd4-0fd0ebd09e38" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">LastPass also created an </span><a href="https://lastpass.com/gmail/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">online look-up tool</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for anyone to search and find out whether any given Gmail address was on the list of compromised passwords.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So far, I’ve found one friend whose Gmail address was on the list, but that’s still impressive, given that there are probably hundreds of millions of Google accounts.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Even if it’s not on the list, you should change your Gmail password. There’s some information out there suggesting that the list is not a list of valid passwords, but only Gmail usernames that were “scraped” from websites. Still, better safe than sorry. If your Gmail account </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> on the list, consider whether any other information inside your Gmail account that might have been compromised requires further action.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lest you think that you aren’t a target for cyber-attack, the fact is that we’re </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> targets, all the time. Most of these attacks are neither personal, nor actually being performed by people, but are “robotic” - software running on computers which tirelessly tests any accessible connection on the Internet (or even off the Internet), probing for weaknesses. And in the case of this story, the security compromise came not from an invasive attack upon user devices, but that potentially critical user authentication data was exposed to the public - which has happened many times in the past. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So take passwords seriously. You may not think you have anything important to protect, but you don’t want to find out otherwise.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MULTI-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FWIW, I've been using Google's "</span><a href="http://www.google.com/landing/2step/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2-Step Verification</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">" since April 2013. This is their implementation of "multi-factor authentication." This challenge-response strategy typically uses a traditional password ("something the user knows") with "something the user has" - typically, a hardware based "authentication token." In my case, I run the Google Authenticator app on my iPhone. But there are many other </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-factor_authentication#Possession_factors:_.22something_only_the_user_has.22" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Possession Factors</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wikipedia: "</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-factor_authentication" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Multi-factor Authentication</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.03846; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">C/Net: "</span><a href="http://www.cnet.com/news/two-factor-authentication-what-you-need-to-know-faq/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Two-factor authentication: What you need to know (FAQ)</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span></h1>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lifehacker: "</span><a href="http://lifehacker.com/5938565/heres-everywhere-you-should-enable-two-factor-authentication-right-now" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here's Everywhere You Should Enable Two-Factor Authentication Right Now</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span></div>
<br />Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-27338170975552731582014-09-15T15:26:00.000-07:002014-09-15T16:00:54.027-07:00"LOOK AGAIN" - How a two-word command in a text-adventure game became a life lesson<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 28px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">LOOK AGAIN</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How a two-word command in a text-adventure game became a life lesson</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-05e57ce3-7b52-51e4-9410-656a80fc72ca" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1981, my Apple ][+ computer came with only a disk operating system and some utilities, but no software to otherwise speak of. I used the BASIC interpreter and machine-language disassembler Steve Wozniak built into the Apple ][ ROMs to write programs - my initial intention for owning a computer.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I bought the ][+, I also bought a copy of the game </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Castle Wolfenstein</i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - I’d played it in the Byte Shop store in Greensboro, North Carolina where I purchased the Apple ][+. It was the era of software packaged as a 5.25" floppy disk and a photocopied (or mimeographed!) sheet of instructions in a zip-top bag, and still it cost $50. Crude as its graphics, sound and speech generation(!) were, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Wolfenstein</i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was fun, and when a Nazi SS officer entered the room ("Halt! Schweinhund!"), your skin would crawl, because unlike the other goose-stepping minions, he could see you across the room, AND cross over into adjacent rooms to chase you.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>I learned a "cheat" from watching the salesman at the Byte Shop play: if you opened the disk drive door - which lifted the read/write head assembly off the disk - you'd prevent the game from saving results of the current "room" of the castle in which you were playing. So if your character got killed, you'd reboot the computer and when you rejoined the Saved game, you were back at the start of room in which you failed. If you were successful, you just closed the drive door and after some whirring and clunking your character appeared in the room into which you just entered through a "doorway." I still have the sense of realizing I'd left the door closed on one of my Disk ][s and reaching forward in a panic to flip it open and prevent disaster.</i></span></blockquote>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPejjhgFHd7-9hfhKO7o4RP92JPnzUEiR7-ft-MO4dxy8iMkX7Xds6r6ha9jvYehgVhCo10RVC_uCkkNDttXIT_6uK6OuBREOQREdnxzNmpBy4NDeb779l4GOPY1cLoRiKsW70afL0XMmW/s1600/castle+wofenstein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPejjhgFHd7-9hfhKO7o4RP92JPnzUEiR7-ft-MO4dxy8iMkX7Xds6r6ha9jvYehgVhCo10RVC_uCkkNDttXIT_6uK6OuBREOQREdnxzNmpBy4NDeb779l4GOPY1cLoRiKsW70afL0XMmW/s1600/castle+wofenstein.jpg" height="273" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><i>Muse Software's </i>Castle Wolfenstein<i> This was computer gaming in 1981. (Apologies for the graphic violence.)</i></td></tr>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eventually, I collected three "text adventures." Actually, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Planetfall</i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> were text adventures from Infocom, publisher of the early interactive adventure game </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Zork</i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The third adventure game I had was </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>The Dark Crystal, </i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">based upon the Jim Henson/Frank Oz motion picture. It was a text adventure with still graphics (which I viewed in glorious Steve Wozniak 4-color video: black, white, green and magenta).</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In text adventures, all interaction between the user and the game were in the form of terse text commands. Movement around the "world" were made with cardinal directions "N," "E," "S" and "W." (You'd usually invest some time drawing maps when playing these.) Objects could be "DROP"ped or collected with a "PICK UP" or "GET" command preceding the object's name. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYJ3tUvTP74Xjl9KrGBxPrU8FdbfxbaRIOhwLQmkccCgVZlYeApjexAISCCsr5wnF7R5NGpuZ69f6fHgZGAydrrpGGoXNR3u3ba6QkW8crZA8RHIfIJPRjqlrwT5RpIN6m1y-IdS1ma_gb/s1600/Planetfall+Screenshot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYJ3tUvTP74Xjl9KrGBxPrU8FdbfxbaRIOhwLQmkccCgVZlYeApjexAISCCsr5wnF7R5NGpuZ69f6fHgZGAydrrpGGoXNR3u3ba6QkW8crZA8RHIfIJPRjqlrwT5RpIN6m1y-IdS1ma_gb/s1600/Planetfall+Screenshot.png" height="286" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Infocom's </i>Planetfall<i> text-adventure game (1983); (Apologies for the graphic violence)</i></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A very frequently used command was "LOOK." In response to this command, the game might return: "A tall, grey-haired man stands in front of the door to the tavern. In his right hand is a stein of beer. In his left hand, a sharp-looking battle axe dangles toward the ground."</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At many locations in the world, though, the game would respond with, "You are in a forest," or an even less-helpful, "There is nothing here." </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I don't remember the circumstances or which game I was playing, but I came to an impasse. I'd mapped every possible "square" on which the character could stand, tried every door, played with and abused every object and character and could make no progress. I don’t know how long I endured this frustration - I think it must have been days or perhaps longs. It was obviously still quite early in gameplay, as I knew there was something I was missing. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I don’t think there was a complete list of commands. The games gave you a primer with a few examples, and they encouraged you to “try” commands. If they didn’t exist, you’d get a response like, “I don’t understand GET BENT.” Sometimes, programmers would include responses like “You yell at the rock, but nothing happens.” </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I wish I could remember why it was obvious that there was one place that was the obstacle - perhaps it was an obvious challenge, like a locked door, or a “mysterious box.” Whenever I’d tried the usual “LOOK” command, I’d gotten the disappointing “It’s just a mysterious box.” I’d tried this many times. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I don’t remember what inspired me to type it, but one day, I tried something new after the unsatisfying “LOOK” results:</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“LOOK AGAIN”</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. . . and the game responded with something like “This time, you notice a small square inscribed on the side of the box.” </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whatever it was, it was the solution, and passing through that single puzzle - which I suppose was really only solved by the player trying the undocumented “LOOK AGAIN” command - was the bottleneck that allowed me to continue gameplay. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To this day, my wife will say “Look Again” in response to some challenge which was resolved by persistently examining something, even though the examiner is convinced that they have done so exhaustively.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today, I was in a hardware store looking for a “thread locking compound” - a substance which inhibits threaded fasteners from loosening. Store employees pointed me to the temporary “removable” compound I’d already found, and didn’t know that there might be additional types of the product intended for more permanent applications, but pointed me toward a more extensive collection of adhesives and related product.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So it was disappointing when I found two hooks full of the same “removable” product I’d already rejected. I pushed the first five or six carded bottles aside to confirm that both hooks were indeed full of the same model of product, and that one or two packages hadn’t been accidentally hung on the wrong hook. Failing that, I stood back and looked at the entire gondola of adhesives, and considered the possibility of using a cyanoacrylate “super glue” instead. Nearly defeated, I stared at the two hooks of thread locker again, and dug down all the way to the back of the right-hand hook . . . </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. . . where I discovered the last four of about twelve cards were in fact the “permanent” thread-locker I’d hoped to find. I moved the eight mis-shelved cards to the left hook with their siblings, and collected my bounty.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. . . and determined that I would write this document.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What’s the takeaway? It’s a natural conclusion that part of the logical tree of deductive reasoning is the elimination of previously examined elements. It’s part of the process of reducing the possibilities until the solution or culprit becomes apparent. But the hazard lies in that we are fallible, and our observational skills are often poor, or we don’t yet know which details are important early in the deduction process. If we incorrectly exclude a candidate from subsequent consideration, we may never reach the correct conclusion. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because circumstances don’t always allow us to be as thorough as possible on the first pass, it’s important to consider the possibility that we may have previously erred in judgement, and sometimes starting again provides new awareness and the Correct Path.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“LOOK AGAIN”</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PLAY INFOCOM TEXT ADVENTURE GAMES ONLINE</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This </span><a href="http://pot.home.xs4all.nl/infocom/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">website</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> provides playable versions of most of the Infocom text adventure games. You may have to give your web browser permission to run Java in order to play.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Ellsworth Chou</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Los Angeles, September 2014</i></span></div>
<br />Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-16161250678904341622014-09-05T12:27:00.001-07:002014-09-05T12:27:24.787-07:00Mercedes-Benz Biodiesel Use Information PDFMercedes-Benz apparently changed their official position of prohibiting the use of any concentration of biodiesel fuel in their vehicles equipped with Common Rail Injection (CDI) and BlueTEC diesel engines (some years of M-B vehicle bear a warning sticker near the fuel filler) to allow a maximum of 5% biodiesel (B5).<br /><br />Here is Mercedes-Benz' <i><a href="http://www.mbusa.com/vcm/MB/DigitalAssets/pdfmb/serviceandparts/biodiesel_Brochure5.pdf">Biodiesel Information for Passenger Cars</a></i> brochure PDF file, published June 2010. The document contains M-B's rationale for prohibiting biodiesel use and provides examples of the vehicle damage caused by biodiesel use.<div>
<br />In recent comments in the <a href="https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/View-NavionTech/">View-Navion Tech forum</a> (owners of motorhomes primarily powered by Mercedes-Benz diesel engines), users reported an increasing number of diesel outlets - especially truck stops - which sell diesel fuels with biodiesel concentrations up to 20%. These fuels violate warranty restrictions of many non-commercial vehicle manufacturers. </div>
Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-80256696537328685652014-08-14T22:43:00.000-07:002014-08-14T22:43:09.512-07:00Force facebook to Cache a New Web Page PreviewIf you've ever had facebook preview an old version of web page, here's a solution. You can use this fb developer's tool to "force" fb to "scrape" a URL and cache a new preview.<br />
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https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug<br />
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A few days ago I was posting a link to my own web page, and discovered that the title of the page was incorrect - from another page I'd used as a template. But even after I changed the page on the web server, and even on a <i>different computer</i>, fb persistently pulled up the old cached title. I've had this happen a few times before, and never looked for a solution until now. This is great.Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630638771654030448.post-74125427177247459242014-07-08T22:42:00.001-07:002014-07-08T22:42:51.251-07:00Google Maps Mobile App Persistently Navigates from Wrong LocationI'm an infrequent user of the <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-maps/id585027354?mt=8">Google Maps app</a> for iOS (the downloadable turn-by-turn app from Google, <i>not</i> the original Google Maps app written by Apple), typically using any number of standalone GPS navigation devices or the community-driven <a href="https://www.waze.com/">Waze</a> app.<br />
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So when I fired up the app today and attempted to navigate to a regular destination just two miles away (to see if Google would eventually try to anticipate this destination in the <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-search/id284815942?mt=8">Google Search app</a> for iOS (which incorporates <a href="http://www.google.com/landing/now/">Google Now</a> technology not otherwise available on iOS), it was more than a little disappointing that the app estimated that the trip would take 24 minutes, covering 13 miles. Even though the app displayed my requested destination and point of origin (my Current Location), the route originated several miles away. Switching between Automobile, Public Transit, Bicycle and Pedestrian modes did not help - each still attempted to start my trip miles from my actual location.<br />
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Changing destinations - even navigating to a point a few feet away - made no difference. Quitting and restarting the app and the phone made no difference. Other navigation apps worked correctly.<br />
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<b>MY SOLUTION</b><br />
<br />
What finally worked was uninstalling the app and downloading it again from the App Store. It was NOT the same version as I'd originally had (updating to v3.1.2.24421), so the version change may or may not have played a part.<br />
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Researching this yielded few helpful comments, but did reveal that many Android users have experienced similar symptoms.Ellsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17981756111823859676noreply@blogger.com0