CloneWars index page down.
The index page for Cartoon Network’s Clone Wars has been removed from their site. This page at StarWars.com indicates that you have to pay for the Hyperspace service to get the files. That sucks. The links I posted the other day still work, but I don’t know for how long.
Gmail Review – Forbes
A First Look At Google’s Gmail at Forbes, via Slashdot.
I’ve been using it for several days(thanks John!!) and I agree with those comments. I’ve sent some specific bug reports and constructive feedback to Google, but the service is definitely usable, even in its beta stage. Fast searching of email is HUGE for me – I’m an email packrat. I hope they make a GMail appliance so I can index and seach my work email archives.
Penny-Arcade Presents Comic Strips
[Ideally, no children are browsing my blog, but just in case: These links are not kid-safe.]
These are great. I made a quickie HTML document that loads all images for the comics in one page for easier viewing.
Pattern-Matching CamPhone Images of City Buildings to Determine Location
Holy cow.
“Two researchers at the University of Cambridge, UK are currently working on a brand new technology that will allow the owners of cameraphones to easily make their way through an unknown city.
Roberto Cipolla and Duncan Robertson have developed a program that can match a photograph of a building, taken by a low-res camera integrated into many modern cell phones, to a database of images on a remote server. Containing a three-dimensional model of the street, the database can work out precisely where you are and send back directions to help you get to your destination.
Unlike GPS receivers and positioning using cell phone base stations, the new technology cannot be shielded, has a precision of one metre, and can also tell which direction you are facing.
When a new photograph arrives, the system starts identifying vertical and horizontal edges. Next, the image is distorted so that it looks as though the photo was taken face-on. The software then locates key points, such as the corners of buildings, windows and doors, and looks through the database for matching data, using the positioning info from the nearest cell phone base station as a guide.
At the moment the researchers are building a prototype to cover all the buildings in Cambridge city center. However, it is not known yet whether the system will be commercially available in the end.”
John Tokash 