Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Sunday, March 28th, 2010
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Remember that DSi XL that’s coming out next week? Well, I hope you didn’t spend a bunch of money in the DSiWare store with your regular size DSi. Yep, turns out that you can’t transfer games to your new hand-held. That really sucks. Nintendo did confirm that this is a known issue , and they are looking into the problem. At this time though, they don’t have an ETA on when exactly you’ll be able to transfer games. The issue lies in the way the store is set up, and the fact that purchases are tied to a hand-held device, instead of an account. [via 1Up ]
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Saturday, March 27th, 2010
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Reader Nate writes, So here’s my problem. The kit lens for my Nikon D40 is busted –something’s rattling around inside — and I don’t know what to do. My options are either buy a new lens for about $200 or spend $600 on either a Nikon D5000 or the Olympus E-PL1. On one hand, I would like to save some cake and $200 isn’t that bad for a camera that I don’t mind. I already have a 50mm f1.8 Nikon lens and Nikon SB-600 Speedlight anyway. But a new camera would be nice so I was thinking another entry level Nikon because it will work with my gear anyway. Then there’s the Olympus E-PL1 that’s calling my name. It’s a lot more portable (read: wife-friendly) and Biggs says in his review that the picture quality is fine. It’s not like I even consider myself an armature photographer. I’m more like a weekend shutterbug so the I don’t need all the fancy manual controls found on DSLRs that I honestly don’t know how to use anyway. So what do I do, CrunchGear? Have a question you want to submit to the masses? Send it in to us at Tips@CrunchGear.com.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Monday, March 15th, 2010
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I was pretty bullish on the One Laptop Per Child program for quite some time, and even participated in the ‘Buy One Give One’ program. I recognize that OLPC represents a long-term project, and that the fruits of that project are not likely to be visible for years. While we’re waiting, we can watch One Kindle Per Child , an initiative from Worldreader.org to improve literacy in Africa through the use of Amazon Kindle e-readers. I’m extremely skeptical of this project. I forwarded the story to my friend Rich, who grew up in Africa, and his immediate response was “Well intentioned people who are really good at X look around and say, ‘how can X solve this problem?’, rather than saying ‘what is needed to solve this problem?’” Like Rich, I’m not convinced that the Amazon Kindle is the right solution to the problem of literacy in Africa, or anywhere else. The Kindle is a closed platform. It is a fragile device, and not the kind of thing anyone in Africa is likely going to be able to repair. Even though it has a long-lasting battery, it still requires electricity to charge that battery. And don’t get me started on DRM, or vendor lock-in, or walled gardens, or any of the other subtle gotchas associated with a proprietary device like the Kindle. Rich reminded me of the Literacy Bridge project, which aims to address the problem of literacy in Africa through similar means, but with a decidedly different fundamental starting point: The model at LiteracyBridge is that the device is durable, so that it can withstand african conditions. It is simple, and local folks are trained in how to repair it. It is powered by regular batteries, so that they can buy them at a local store, which not only ensures that the device remains powered, but contributes to the local economy. They can put their own content on it, which also encourages local economy in recorded books. And of course, there’s still the Peace Corps , and countless traditional teaching opportunities to help address the issues of literacy in Africa and around the world. Technology may be one part of the larger puzzle, but I think that the Worldreader project is profoundly overestimating the value of technology for this problem.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Monday, March 15th, 2010
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Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last couple months, you know that Toyota has had problems with sudden acceleration of some of its vehicles. Apparently, the root cause of the problem is still unknown, which is a little troubling to the average consumer. Toyota claims to be doing everything they can to investigate, but that doesn’t seem to be enough. Now everyone and their brother are suddenly product design engineers and have the gall to tell Toyota what to do and how to do it. Witness this opinion piece in the LA Times by David M. Cummings entitled “ Haven’t found that software glitch, Toyota? Keep trying “. Mr. Cummings worked on the Mars Pathfinder project for NASA, so he has some credibility to his name when it comes to software design and product testing. But his opinion piece seems to completely miss the point of the PR nightmare that Toyota is dealing with. Mr. Cummings says “I’m still skeptical when I hear an engineer declare a complex software system to be bug-free based on laboratory testing.” I admit I haven’t been following the Toyota situation very closely, but I’d be floored if anyone at Toyota has gone on record to say that the millions of lines of embedded software used in Toyota vehicles is “bug free”. I’d be surprised if any professional software developer anywhere would have the gall to claim any code bug free. Code is complex. The systems on which the code runs are complex. The number of variables affecting the execution of that code are even more complex. As Mr. Cummins observes at the beginning of his rant, “Toyota’s chief engineer testified to Congress that the company has done extensive testing on its cars’ electronics and believes they are not the cause of the sudden acceleration.” To claim that the software is not the cause of the sudden acceleration is not the same thing as claiming that the software is completely free of bugs! What really sticks in my craw about Mr. Cummins complaint, though, is that he doesn’t appear to appreciate the audience that Toyota is addressing. Sure, some of the people following this situation are engineers, and they may well be interested in the details of the testing methodologies, or specifics of lab results; but most people are average consumers with no interest whatsoever in the science of this issue. They just want to know that the problem has been identified and fixed. When I provide technical support to people, I don’t go into the specifics of memory registers, or heap and stack overflows, or any of the other things that happen to cause problems. I tell people that something went wrong in very simple terms. They trust me to know what I’m doing, else they wouldn’t have asked me to help them to begin with. They don’t want to get into the nitty gritty, else they’d pursue a job in technology on their own. I think Mr. Cummins needs to remember that not every Toyota owner, and certainly not every member of the U.S. Congress, is an engineer, or has an engineer’s mentality. Mr. Cummins final remarks are very sound, though: “this should serve as a wake-up call to all industries that increasingly rely on software for safety.” I agree whole-heartedly. The world is only going to continue to get more complex. We need to build safety and reliability testing into every facet of product design, and not trust the tool chains we use to build software.
Posted by 010081
Tech
Monday, March 15th, 2010
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Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last couple months, you know that Toyota has had problems with sudden acceleration of some of its vehicles. Apparently, the root cause of the problem is still unknown, which is a little troubling to the average consumer. Toyota claims to be doing everything they can to investigate, but that doesn’t seem to be enough. Now everyone and their brother are suddenly product design engineers and have the gall to tell Toyota what to do and how to do it. Witness this opinion piece in the LA Times by David M. Cummings entitled “ Haven’t found that software glitch, Toyota? Keep trying “. Mr. Cummings worked on the Mars Pathfinder project for NASA, so he has some credibility to his name when it comes to software design and product testing. But his opinion piece seems to completely miss the point of the PR nightmare that Toyota is dealing with. Mr. Cummings says “I’m still skeptical when I hear an engineer declare a complex software system to be bug-free based on laboratory testing.” I admit I haven’t been following the Toyota situation very closely, but I’d be floored if anyone at Toyota has gone on record to say that the millions of lines of embedded software used in Toyota vehicles is “bug free”. I’d be surprised if any professional software developer anywhere would have the gall to claim any code bug free. Code is complex. The systems on which the code runs are complex. The number of variables affecting the execution of that code are even more complex. As Mr. Cummins observes at the beginning of his rant, “Toyota’s chief engineer testified to Congress that the company has done extensive testing on its cars’ electronics and believes they are not the cause of the sudden acceleration.” To claim that the software is not the cause of the sudden acceleration is not the same thing as claiming that the software is completely free of bugs! What really sticks in my craw about Mr. Cummins complaint, though, is that he doesn’t appear to appreciate the audience that Toyota is addressing. Sure, some of the people following this situation are engineers, and they may well be interested in the details of the testing methodologies, or specifics of lab results; but most people are average consumers with no interest whatsoever in the science of this issue. They just want to know that the problem has been identified and fixed. When I provide technical support to people, I don’t go into the specifics of memory registers, or heap and stack overflows, or any of the other things that happen to cause problems. I tell people that something went wrong in very simple terms. They trust me to know what I’m doing, else they wouldn’t have asked me to help them to begin with. They don’t want to get into the nitty gritty, else they’d pursue a job in technology on their own. I think Mr. Cummins needs to remember that not every Toyota owner, and certainly not every member of the U.S. Congress, is an engineer, or has an engineer’s mentality. Mr. Cummins final remarks are very sound, though: “this should serve as a wake-up call to all industries that increasingly rely on software for safety.” I agree whole-heartedly. The world is only going to continue to get more complex. We need to build safety and reliability testing into every facet of product design, and not trust the tool chains we use to build software.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Friday, March 12th, 2010
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Well, the lawyers have won again. Netflix settled the privacy lawsuit brought about by their last contest out of court, and canceled the next contest. Good thing we have outraged class action lawsuits to protect us! Netflix of course ran a contest to find a better algorithm to recommend movies. Harmless right? Well, in order to help people figure out how to do this, Netflix released a bunch of viewer reviews of movies to interested parties, and that’s where the problem came in. Apparently there was a little too much information in those reviews, which would apparently allow people to compare similarly word reviews to other sites, and thus potentially find out who the author really is. Netflix was promptly sued back in December, and just announced that they’ve settled out of court, and will be discontinuing any further contests. [via The Firewall ]
Posted by 010081
Tech
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
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Ruh roh, some Toyota owners are claiming that the little metal shim installed in their pedals haven’t stopped the cars from fits of sudden acceleration. At least seven complaints have been filed in the last two weeks to the NHTSA stating they are still having the problem. This isn’t going to end well if it’s true. Those seven complaints are just a tiny, tiny fraction of the 1,000,000 vehicles Toyota dealerships serviced over the last few weeks. The claims are so far unverified. The agency will need to investigate before any action takes place as there are no doubt at least seven whack jobs out there capable of filing false claims. But if you’re an owner of the 10,000,000 recalled Toyota’s, please, please let your dealership know if you’re having acceleration issues after they installed the supposed fix. It starts and ends at the dealership, not with a government agency. [ LATime via Autoblog ]
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
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Ever wonder exactly why the baby is crying? Is he hungry? Is she tired? Does she have gas? Does he need changed? All these questions whirled about in my head whenever junior would wake in the middle of the night and start making noises. Researchers in Japan however, are working to find an answer to the first question, however they haven’t made any progress with the followup question, “why aren’t that baby’s parents making him be quiet?” The scientists at the very important sounding “Department of Computer Science and Systems Engineering” are working on the problem. They’ve had little success so far, due to the fact that a baby can’t communicate to indicate if they are right or wrong. They keep working on the project though, and promise to spend millions until they finally reach a solution. The current device uses an audio spectrum analyzer and recorded samples to try and match up the cause of the child’s distress.