Posts
so PC Gamer's latest DVD had "Alganon" on it...Alganon is an MMO kinda game, rather like the others...My experience with these things is limited, played Guild Wars for a while a couple of years ago.
Guild Wars you buy the game (which I did for next to zip), and it's free to play after that. You can cover a decent amount of territory solo (well, by hiring NPCs for your team), but ultimately it's not very interesting. There were a fair number of folks playing at any time, each "town" had some dozens of players standing around looking for a group, or various Guild players. Random self-selected groups don't work too well. A couple of folks seemed a bit too Leroy Jenkins to me.
Alganon is of course similar...but without all the players. I think I maybe saw 3 or 4 total. It seems heavily oriented around the "crafting" crap, which does not interest me. Opponents only occasionally drop anything interesting. I happened by a beach in one area where the opponents, which looked a lot like green gorgons without the snake hair, were the same level as me--level 8. A little further south, they were blue, and level 30. ???!!! How can you have a level 8 area next to a level 30 area?
I got killed a bunch of times...actually that aspect is kinda cool: you turn into a spirit, respawn back in town, the world is now black&white/gray-scale, and you can run back to your body--or go exploring around a bit, because as a spirit, you can't be re-killed, in fact for the most part you can't even see the opponents. Once you are back to your body, you can reclaim it exactly as it was.
It is entirely too easy to sign up for quests that are WAY above your level, which does argue for a team. So let's have some NPCs to hire to form that team--I realize the MM part of MMORPG means other players on your team, but I prefer solo gaming, so I don't embarrass myself or anyone else. (GWs hire-able NPCs weren't all that great, they didn't level up as fast as you, so after a while they tend to be more cannon fodder to distract an opponent.
Alganon's crafting stuff seems really complex, time-consuming...forum posts do indicate that's where the best loot comes from, but seriously...the game is about crafting???
So at Level 10 I ran into a disastrous bug...I had just bought a chunk of training from the Ranger Trainer in Adrok, and decided I would re-arrange my skills bar (bottom center), and I managed to simultaneously delete every single one of them with some tray mouse-click...that is a serious bug. Basically killed the game for me. I have reported it, but I don't expect to get much resolution. In fact, if there isn't one that simply restores me either to right before the training "purchases" or simply puts my lost skill items back on the bar, uninstall occurs later this week. At least I didn't pay for it or anything.
In any case, it appears to be a game that very few people are playing. The map stuff shows a pretty darn large territory to wander through, which would be great if there was a good way to avoid quests that are way to far above your skill level, and if others were playing such that you could get onto a team, and if there were better loot drops.
The game also seems very oriented around getting you to pay for things on the outside, things which would make you considerably stronger. Lots of things in the in-game economy are obscure at best, and you have to buy a lot of training.
Oblivion is so much better than this...
Monday, December 27, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Can the iPad do a blog now?
Yes, it can, but you have to go to the "edit" tab to do it, and then you're editing the raw HTML. But still, it's better than nothing, which is what you have otherwise.
And I'm finding that I type better with just a couple of fingers rather than the whole hand, on this virtual kbd.
Using preview works fine, result look ok. You can always go edit later on a real compy.
And I'm finding that I type better with just a couple of fingers rather than the whole hand, on this virtual kbd.
Using preview works fine, result look ok. You can always go edit later on a real compy.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Changing employers
So I've changed employers this month. I had not done that since 1993...which was essentially before the World Wide Web even existed (except on a very limited basis).
I had essentially run out of billable work for the foreseeable future where I was the last 17 years. Sad, but true. I'd been doing solo stuff most of the last several years, was disconnected from other things.
Now was a good time to do the change. I recall when my dad retired from the USAF he said to me at the time: Want to be able to say I can do at least ten years with a commercial employer, and staying in the USAF for the remaining possible 5 years would violate that idea.
So for me, retirement is approaching at about that same pace. Dad was a year older, was planning to officially retire at 65 no matter what. I expect to have to go closer to 70; while that's still a ways off, it's a lot closer than the beginning of my professional career (1978).
Key thing with new employer is whether the work will be enjoyable. At the moment, it looks so for the next several years.
I had essentially run out of billable work for the foreseeable future where I was the last 17 years. Sad, but true. I'd been doing solo stuff most of the last several years, was disconnected from other things.
Now was a good time to do the change. I recall when my dad retired from the USAF he said to me at the time: Want to be able to say I can do at least ten years with a commercial employer, and staying in the USAF for the remaining possible 5 years would violate that idea.
So for me, retirement is approaching at about that same pace. Dad was a year older, was planning to officially retire at 65 no matter what. I expect to have to go closer to 70; while that's still a ways off, it's a lot closer than the beginning of my professional career (1978).
Key thing with new employer is whether the work will be enjoyable. At the moment, it looks so for the next several years.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Java and EXIF data
I have recently needed to try to read EXIF data from Java. Easier said than done, unfortunately, and finding out how was not easy.
A few months ago I dug up what looked like a good approach, but it's old code (~2002), and calls classes/methods that are no longer accessible. I think they're still present in the runtime, but you can't use them yourself.
So I went hunting again, today. Found something called Imagero, which claimed to read the EXIF, but it didn't really look like it did, and the license statement was too burdensome.
Something called JExifViewer also looks good. It's a little bit too much GUI as opposed to callable functions, but it does seem to work ok.
I also found this:
Java Forum Link
which explains how to do it relatively easily.
The key thing is that you have to install a separate tool (the TIFF tool), and that turns out to have a quirk in that there are multiple variations, and you really need to install the JDK variation *and* the JRE version, because you probably aren't running your code in Eclipse from the runtime in the JDK.
Anyway, the code in the forum works great, does exactly what you are hoping for, and this code is way smaller once you install the other library (which comes from Sun anyway, so it's a good thing to go ahead and do).
The only flaw with all this is that EXIF data is most non-standardized, there are implementation inconsistencies...you know the drill, and it only applies to a few file formats, primarily JPG.
-----------
Later: well, this bit of java code is less than perfect. I was able to break it pretty quickly.
Looks like "exiftool" is the better approach, as a callable program.
A few months ago I dug up what looked like a good approach, but it's old code (~2002), and calls classes/methods that are no longer accessible. I think they're still present in the runtime, but you can't use them yourself.
So I went hunting again, today. Found something called Imagero, which claimed to read the EXIF, but it didn't really look like it did, and the license statement was too burdensome.
Something called JExifViewer also looks good. It's a little bit too much GUI as opposed to callable functions, but it does seem to work ok.
I also found this:
Java Forum Link
which explains how to do it relatively easily.
The key thing is that you have to install a separate tool (the TIFF tool), and that turns out to have a quirk in that there are multiple variations, and you really need to install the JDK variation *and* the JRE version, because you probably aren't running your code in Eclipse from the runtime in the JDK.
Anyway, the code in the forum works great, does exactly what you are hoping for, and this code is way smaller once you install the other library (which comes from Sun anyway, so it's a good thing to go ahead and do).
The only flaw with all this is that EXIF data is most non-standardized, there are implementation inconsistencies...you know the drill, and it only applies to a few file formats, primarily JPG.
-----------
Later: well, this bit of java code is less than perfect. I was able to break it pretty quickly.
Looks like "exiftool" is the better approach, as a callable program.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Ain't Windows wonderful?
So in general it's a good idea to do the O/S updates from Microstink when they are issued.
but not always...
and I got burned by that two days ago. I have two PCs, both are the neat little micro-boxes...I like the size, the lack of noise, etc. Anyway, one runs XP and one runs 7. I don't have space for multiple kbds and monitors, so I normally have XP open via Remote Desktop.
So these latest updates from M$ broke Remote Desktop. I cannot connect to XP from 7. This is awful!
Surely it doesn't take an Advanced Degree (tm) to figure out these kinds of things before releasing software !?!?!?
I realize you can't test against all possible combinations of softwares someone else might have...but surely you can test against all your own stuff ?!?!
So Win 7 is now showing what are probably the same updates...maybe I'll get really really lucky and that will fix the problem...nah. not gonna happen.
but not always...
and I got burned by that two days ago. I have two PCs, both are the neat little micro-boxes...I like the size, the lack of noise, etc. Anyway, one runs XP and one runs 7. I don't have space for multiple kbds and monitors, so I normally have XP open via Remote Desktop.
So these latest updates from M$ broke Remote Desktop. I cannot connect to XP from 7. This is awful!
Surely it doesn't take an Advanced Degree (tm) to figure out these kinds of things before releasing software !?!?!?
I realize you can't test against all possible combinations of softwares someone else might have...but surely you can test against all your own stuff ?!?!
So Win 7 is now showing what are probably the same updates...maybe I'll get really really lucky and that will fix the problem...nah. not gonna happen.
Friday, August 06, 2010
Favorite restaurants
My favorite chinese restaurant in this area has closed: Hunan Lion. The facility has been stripped to the walls, even the lions are gone. That almost suggests they are moving...went by last night hoping for dinner, but no.
This is a sad day...there really isn't one as good that we know of around here.
-------
[Later: Sept 15] In a weird turn of events, I've changed employers, and I'm now going to be working in the building where Hunan Lion used to be. Same bldg used to have a TGI Friday's, but that's been gone for years. It is just now getting replaced by an Indian restaurant. If it's a good one, that will be like heaven.
This is a sad day...there really isn't one as good that we know of around here.
-------
[Later: Sept 15] In a weird turn of events, I've changed employers, and I'm now going to be working in the building where Hunan Lion used to be. Same bldg used to have a TGI Friday's, but that's been gone for years. It is just now getting replaced by an Indian restaurant. If it's a good one, that will be like heaven.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Starcraft 2
Yeah, so I did the crazy thing and went to Best Buy at midnight to get a copy on opening day. Actually I went at 12.45, and there was no one there except the employees...so no waiting.
Fired it up at home...and did the tutorial. The gameplay mechanics appear to have not changed at all. It IS visually prettier--but it still needs the zoom way way out that Supreme Commander has. All the keystrokes are the same.
The EULA is a bit annoying...if I were to use the editor kit to make something, Blizzard owns it. Guess I won't be doing any.
It's good that this is finally out...been a long time coming. We'll see how it goes.
[later...]
It's a lot prettier than the first game. the cinematics are excellent...the way this works is that you do a mission, you end up back on Raynor's starship. If you did the side missions, you maybe have some money and research points to spend on things, which you do while on the ship.
The in-game animations are really good, too.
But what of the "story" ? So far it seems like the SC 1, the story takes place as narrative and cinematics while you blast aliens. One thing I don't like is that it doesn't let me finish blasting the aliens everywhere...Redstone was the first map where I did.
[days later]
I'll post a walk-through of sorts before too long, for the campaign.
There are four difficulty modes: Casual=you're new to RTS games, Normal=you've played RTS games, Hard=you've played through StarCraft 1 not too long ago, Brutal=you're a master at SC 1.
Even with that, the maps vary in difficulty: some on Normal are more difficult than others on Hard.
One story sequence has Zeratul appear, and then you actually play as Zeratul for a few missions--the last one of which is harder than anything else I've done in SC2 so far--this is primarily because I don't really know how to play as a Protoss, and doing the other missions isn't really going to teach you.
As you proceed through missions, new mission possibilities pop up, featuring different characters: Zeratul, Tosh, Tychus, Mengsk Jr. You are working towards a point where you are maybe going to be able to rescue Kerrigan !?
I'm not finished yet...
Fired it up at home...and did the tutorial. The gameplay mechanics appear to have not changed at all. It IS visually prettier--but it still needs the zoom way way out that Supreme Commander has. All the keystrokes are the same.
The EULA is a bit annoying...if I were to use the editor kit to make something, Blizzard owns it. Guess I won't be doing any.
It's good that this is finally out...been a long time coming. We'll see how it goes.
[later...]
It's a lot prettier than the first game. the cinematics are excellent...the way this works is that you do a mission, you end up back on Raynor's starship. If you did the side missions, you maybe have some money and research points to spend on things, which you do while on the ship.
The in-game animations are really good, too.
But what of the "story" ? So far it seems like the SC 1, the story takes place as narrative and cinematics while you blast aliens. One thing I don't like is that it doesn't let me finish blasting the aliens everywhere...Redstone was the first map where I did.
[days later]
I'll post a walk-through of sorts before too long, for the campaign.
There are four difficulty modes: Casual=you're new to RTS games, Normal=you've played RTS games, Hard=you've played through StarCraft 1 not too long ago, Brutal=you're a master at SC 1.
Even with that, the maps vary in difficulty: some on Normal are more difficult than others on Hard.
One story sequence has Zeratul appear, and then you actually play as Zeratul for a few missions--the last one of which is harder than anything else I've done in SC2 so far--this is primarily because I don't really know how to play as a Protoss, and doing the other missions isn't really going to teach you.
As you proceed through missions, new mission possibilities pop up, featuring different characters: Zeratul, Tosh, Tychus, Mengsk Jr. You are working towards a point where you are maybe going to be able to rescue Kerrigan !?
I'm not finished yet...
Monday, July 05, 2010
Latest on compy games
Played the Supreme Commander 2 demo earlier this year (figuring I'd get SupCom 2 when Steam has it cheap enough), and so I finally got motivated to buy the original...
With which I have issues...
1) It won't even install on Win 7 Pro. Grrr...It's not like this is from some little micro developer. Back to XP.
2) My XP box just barely has enough horsepower, despite being an AMD 2800+ dual-core, with ATI X1600 graphics.
3) It aborted really badly on me yesterday, and I cannot recover. I was in the middle of the final episode (#6) for the UEF faction, did something that caused it to crash hard, and I cannot get it going again...not for lack of trying, but none of the saved games will get going, not even the tutorial behaves properly.
SupCom1 is an update to Total Annihilation, from years ago. One extra feature is that your army can be A LOT larger, I think 400 buildings and fighting units, which is great (considering that Starcraft limits you to 200, which gets to pinch a little sometimes), but this does mean that extra compute power is needed. So with this crash, something is now wrong in that it seems unable to handle more than six or eight units/bldgs. So game saves just barely even load, and won't run.
This crash was so bad that I went and looked at services to turn off, startup apps to remove, and ultimately had to uninstall the game.
Fortunately, I only paid $3 for the game, on Ebay...but still. That is absolutely the worst software crash I've experienced. Ouch.
With which I have issues...
1) It won't even install on Win 7 Pro. Grrr...It's not like this is from some little micro developer. Back to XP.
2) My XP box just barely has enough horsepower, despite being an AMD 2800+ dual-core, with ATI X1600 graphics.
3) It aborted really badly on me yesterday, and I cannot recover. I was in the middle of the final episode (#6) for the UEF faction, did something that caused it to crash hard, and I cannot get it going again...not for lack of trying, but none of the saved games will get going, not even the tutorial behaves properly.
SupCom1 is an update to Total Annihilation, from years ago. One extra feature is that your army can be A LOT larger, I think 400 buildings and fighting units, which is great (considering that Starcraft limits you to 200, which gets to pinch a little sometimes), but this does mean that extra compute power is needed. So with this crash, something is now wrong in that it seems unable to handle more than six or eight units/bldgs. So game saves just barely even load, and won't run.
This crash was so bad that I went and looked at services to turn off, startup apps to remove, and ultimately had to uninstall the game.
Fortunately, I only paid $3 for the game, on Ebay...but still. That is absolutely the worst software crash I've experienced. Ouch.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Steam games on mac
Hallelujah! Steam has come to the intel mac!
I now have Torchlight, Portal, and --TADA! Half-life 2 on my powerbook laptop!
Booyah! Vacation is going to be even better, whether the beach has oil residue on it or not!
I now have Torchlight, Portal, and --TADA! Half-life 2 on my powerbook laptop!
Booyah! Vacation is going to be even better, whether the beach has oil residue on it or not!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Cars n such
Recall from earlier entries that I got a Jaguar XKE 18 months ago...joined the local Jag owner's club about that same time...last summer's picnic was good, and there was a couple there with an '03 XK8, sea-foam green (my mom's fave color). This car is a nice looker...probably the best-looking Jag after the E. And if you don't need a new one, a used one is a good bit cheaper than an E.
[here's where a secret is revealed] So my wife decides she really likes this one, and wants one of her own, except she wants a convertible. This took a while to manage, basically not until I had a chunk of $ come in as bonus money this year...so here's what we got:
I apologize that the size is wrong. Just click right on it and click "view image" in the popup menu.
it's midnight blue, with a nice light tan interior (ideal for when it's hot out, unlike my E, which has a *black* interior :(:( which I gotta fix one of these days)
So now we are a two-Jag operation...plus two other cars...altho the pickup is going to evolve into being my son's car, since he's 18 now.
[here's where a secret is revealed] So my wife decides she really likes this one, and wants one of her own, except she wants a convertible. This took a while to manage, basically not until I had a chunk of $ come in as bonus money this year...so here's what we got:
I apologize that the size is wrong. Just click right on it and click "view image" in the popup menu.
it's midnight blue, with a nice light tan interior (ideal for when it's hot out, unlike my E, which has a *black* interior :(:( which I gotta fix one of these days)
So now we are a two-Jag operation...plus two other cars...altho the pickup is going to evolve into being my son's car, since he's 18 now.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
It's the iPad
So I got an ipad ten days ago...this is a REALLY nifty device...going to change personal computing as we know.
What makes it different: you DO NOT interact with the operating system. Ever. This means you can't actually look at files qua files. Only as things you manipulate via applications...so when you "save an image" from Safari, it is actually copied directly into the "iphoto" application's storage and knowledge...no "find a folder, supply a name, click save, go to iphoto, open/import, find the folder, click the file". Anytime you need to enter text, you tap the field to do that in, the virtual kbd pops up, you type away...
What it does NOT do: well, it does not let me make these blog entries--the blog body text is entered in a javascript widget, not a regular text field, so ipad cannot see the thing, thus no kbd, no typing, no nothing...well, you can enter the title, and the label tags below...but that's it.
This is really bad--this device is ideal for a blog-on-the-go, and it can't be done.
What is really cool: last friday I saw a Tesla car just outside my office bldg, at lunchtime. Decided I needed to send my wife a text msg about it, I don't have my phone (just the ipad), how am I going to do it? when I got to the cafe with wifi, got logged in, looked online for help on this, it says "grab this free ipad app" by clicking on a link which takes me right to the app store, I click again to install it, that takes a few seconds, then tiny bit of setup and I can send a msg. Fabulous!
I actually bought the ipad app for Bento, as well as the G5 version, so I could see about converting my filemaker databases over to something I could sync with the ipad (had been thinking about having them on my android phone, but this is going to be better...once I can get the pictures incorporated (non-trivial: I have about 2000 images in those databases I want on the ipad).
Still...I love this gadget.
What makes it different: you DO NOT interact with the operating system. Ever. This means you can't actually look at files qua files. Only as things you manipulate via applications...so when you "save an image" from Safari, it is actually copied directly into the "iphoto" application's storage and knowledge...no "find a folder, supply a name, click save, go to iphoto, open/import, find the folder, click the file". Anytime you need to enter text, you tap the field to do that in, the virtual kbd pops up, you type away...
What it does NOT do: well, it does not let me make these blog entries--the blog body text is entered in a javascript widget, not a regular text field, so ipad cannot see the thing, thus no kbd, no typing, no nothing...well, you can enter the title, and the label tags below...but that's it.
This is really bad--this device is ideal for a blog-on-the-go, and it can't be done.
What is really cool: last friday I saw a Tesla car just outside my office bldg, at lunchtime. Decided I needed to send my wife a text msg about it, I don't have my phone (just the ipad), how am I going to do it? when I got to the cafe with wifi, got logged in, looked online for help on this, it says "grab this free ipad app" by clicking on a link which takes me right to the app store, I click again to install it, that takes a few seconds, then tiny bit of setup and I can send a msg. Fabulous!
I actually bought the ipad app for Bento, as well as the G5 version, so I could see about converting my filemaker databases over to something I could sync with the ipad (had been thinking about having them on my android phone, but this is going to be better...once I can get the pictures incorporated (non-trivial: I have about 2000 images in those databases I want on the ipad).
Still...I love this gadget.
Friday, April 02, 2010
Computer games on Steam
Steam is a really nifty delivery mechanism, and a lot of older games are moving over there...just this past week, the entire Quake collection was available for $15. Hard to beat that...
Except that all too often, you can buy a game that literally WILL NOT PLAY. Is Valve actually testing any of this stuff?
I'm running Win7 x64, and I have some serious trouble with things. I have had several demos fail to run, and a couple of things I've bought also would not run. I think a couple of demos have even failed to install.
Surely it doesn't take an Advanced Degree(tm) to figure this out? At the least, the Steam client should be able to detect your machine properties and tell you that it won't run certain things.
Except that all too often, you can buy a game that literally WILL NOT PLAY. Is Valve actually testing any of this stuff?
I'm running Win7 x64, and I have some serious trouble with things. I have had several demos fail to run, and a couple of things I've bought also would not run. I think a couple of demos have even failed to install.
Surely it doesn't take an Advanced Degree(tm) to figure this out? At the least, the Steam client should be able to detect your machine properties and tell you that it won't run certain things.
computer parts
got some some bonus money from work a couple of months ago, so I bought myself this:
HP 21" Touch-screen monitor
which is just as cool as the name implies. works right out of the box on Win 7.
so imagine my surprise when i attach the other monitor and make this one the 2nd mon...yeah, the touch point x/y is assumed to be the primary monitor, so it does things on that monitor!
that's right, either the monitor or (more likely) Win7 does NOT know that the touch-screen might not be the primary monitor.
Looks like I'll have to switch them. Gad.
HP 21" Touch-screen monitor
which is just as cool as the name implies. works right out of the box on Win 7.
so imagine my surprise when i attach the other monitor and make this one the 2nd mon...yeah, the touch point x/y is assumed to be the primary monitor, so it does things on that monitor!
that's right, either the monitor or (more likely) Win7 does NOT know that the touch-screen might not be the primary monitor.
Looks like I'll have to switch them. Gad.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
more gadgets
I'll probably get an IPAD next month...I've already ordered a fairly nifty looking touch-screen, it should be here in a few days.
Something else I've been thinking about recently is wearable computer. There's a reason why, but I had not thought about it for several years...I was expecting to be able to have one this year, and they don't look any more available than ever, maybe less.
The key reason I'd want one is that I want it to have what's called a Remembrance Agent, although I want it to be a lot more powerful than the discussion here. At another place, read the "Future" section, and that is more what I want (although this paper is ancient). I want it to be a regular computer, too, and do other stuff like watch RSS feeds for me and notify me when there's something I might be interested in. I've done some of the software work on that already.
Looking here, you can see this guy's interests are related, but he doesn't do any maintenance on his website.
and here's an enabling device I have to get
Something else I've been thinking about recently is wearable computer. There's a reason why, but I had not thought about it for several years...I was expecting to be able to have one this year, and they don't look any more available than ever, maybe less.
The key reason I'd want one is that I want it to have what's called a Remembrance Agent, although I want it to be a lot more powerful than the discussion here. At another place, read the "Future" section, and that is more what I want (although this paper is ancient). I want it to be a regular computer, too, and do other stuff like watch RSS feeds for me and notify me when there's something I might be interested in. I've done some of the software work on that already.
Looking here, you can see this guy's interests are related, but he doesn't do any maintenance on his website.
and here's an enabling device I have to get
new phone coming...
into my life...probably in a week or two at the most...
the Android phone. specifically, the HTC Hero, from Sprint.
why? because you can program it in Java, and it's not restricted the way the iphone is. and that means I can write my own apps and use them without getting Apple's approval for it...yay! that means I can figure out how to move my databases onto the phone, and finally ditch the PDA.
this is looking pretty nifty at this point.
the Android phone. specifically, the HTC Hero, from Sprint.
why? because you can program it in Java, and it's not restricted the way the iphone is. and that means I can write my own apps and use them without getting Apple's approval for it...yay! that means I can figure out how to move my databases onto the phone, and finally ditch the PDA.
this is looking pretty nifty at this point.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Vancouver Olympics
I'm watching the gold-medal ice hockey game between Canada and the US men's teams...I watched the women's final as well...I had forgotten that USA had a good women's ice hockey team, but we weren't quite good enough this time. It's interesting watching hockey where checking isn't allowed. The hockey games have not been as challenging as one might hae wished, given that the US and Canadian teams are really dominant.
The Olympics have certainly been good this year. I watch nearly every minute that is actually broadcast that I'm home for, which is about 10 times as much tv as I can really stand. It is pretty high-res stuff, tho...watching the instant-replay for hockey the puck is really sharp on the screen, which is impressive considering that thing can be moving 100 mph.
I have something else going on this year, in that I wanted to track news stories about various events, because I need some additional input content for training a piece of software I wrote a year ago: it filters text content (stories, like news) based on training which is pre-categorized...i.e., I take various stories, assign topics, create a training model from them, and then use that training model to categorize new stories. The technique uses what's called "support vector machine", it's mostly about positive examples (where other trained systems used both pos and neg training). Anyway, I generally grab content from various RSS feeds, because they are slightly pre-categorized (like the Washington Post sports feed); this is not great because it tends to be limited content: NFL, NBA, MLB, and college equivalents. I need some other sources, but haven't looked very hard yet. Olympics is a fairly concentrated bunch of stories about skiing, skating, hockey, and curling. And it turned out that Vancouver has its own RSS feed, which is ideal for me: I have a separate tool written several years ago whose sole purpose is to grab stories from RSS feeds. This means I can continuously grab stories, not worry about them getting superseded or expiring, and then zip through a folder of them marking them for their training topics.
I should fire up a few more feeds for this, but I especially wanted to get the olympics because of the fairly unique set of stories I could get.
The only flaw in this is that I don't have a really good set of story topics that covers a lot of territory in a lot of detail. If I made more topics, I could probably get into more detail, but I don't know how much is really appropriate.
This whole idea, for me, dates back to some work in about the 1996 time-frame. You'd have a text-processing system where content would be brought in (like a large number of RSS feeds), you'd run them through a topic recognizer, and run that output through several differently-trained name-finders. From there you'd feed the names into a database, use some other correlation techniques.
I was trying to go this direction again in '08 with the pirates demo: could you find out what those guys are up to by any online content (in retrospect, I think not, that seems to be entirely target of opportunity, rather than any organized piracy with malice aforethought). Like drug-related stuff in Mexico, and Columbia, it's mostly about kidnapping, rather than loot.
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The Canadian hockey team is outplaying us, same as the women's game. Sigh. We are not doing the passing we need to, and shooting too early.
The Olympics have certainly been good this year. I watch nearly every minute that is actually broadcast that I'm home for, which is about 10 times as much tv as I can really stand. It is pretty high-res stuff, tho...watching the instant-replay for hockey the puck is really sharp on the screen, which is impressive considering that thing can be moving 100 mph.
I have something else going on this year, in that I wanted to track news stories about various events, because I need some additional input content for training a piece of software I wrote a year ago: it filters text content (stories, like news) based on training which is pre-categorized...i.e., I take various stories, assign topics, create a training model from them, and then use that training model to categorize new stories. The technique uses what's called "support vector machine", it's mostly about positive examples (where other trained systems used both pos and neg training). Anyway, I generally grab content from various RSS feeds, because they are slightly pre-categorized (like the Washington Post sports feed); this is not great because it tends to be limited content: NFL, NBA, MLB, and college equivalents. I need some other sources, but haven't looked very hard yet. Olympics is a fairly concentrated bunch of stories about skiing, skating, hockey, and curling. And it turned out that Vancouver has its own RSS feed, which is ideal for me: I have a separate tool written several years ago whose sole purpose is to grab stories from RSS feeds. This means I can continuously grab stories, not worry about them getting superseded or expiring, and then zip through a folder of them marking them for their training topics.
I should fire up a few more feeds for this, but I especially wanted to get the olympics because of the fairly unique set of stories I could get.
The only flaw in this is that I don't have a really good set of story topics that covers a lot of territory in a lot of detail. If I made more topics, I could probably get into more detail, but I don't know how much is really appropriate.
This whole idea, for me, dates back to some work in about the 1996 time-frame. You'd have a text-processing system where content would be brought in (like a large number of RSS feeds), you'd run them through a topic recognizer, and run that output through several differently-trained name-finders. From there you'd feed the names into a database, use some other correlation techniques.
I was trying to go this direction again in '08 with the pirates demo: could you find out what those guys are up to by any online content (in retrospect, I think not, that seems to be entirely target of opportunity, rather than any organized piracy with malice aforethought). Like drug-related stuff in Mexico, and Columbia, it's mostly about kidnapping, rather than loot.
----
The Canadian hockey team is outplaying us, same as the women's game. Sigh. We are not doing the passing we need to, and shooting too early.
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