Monday, March 19, 2007

Eavesdropping nuthatches distinguish danger threats in chickadee alarm calls

http://www.physorg.com/news93544258.html

The false separation between research in brain science and psychology

I was recently in a Psychology Library picking out interesting things to read in journals. It amused me to notice the journals I selected were of 2 types: psychology and brain science. Though both subjects interest me, I was dissatisfied with both, and a little reflection showed me why.

Brain science journals are still studying psychological issues that are too small because that is within the scope of the things they can resolve with brain observations. Psychology journals also tackle issues that are, in a way too small, because that is within the scope of things that can be resolved with the methods of psychological experiments (statistics, questionnaires, etc.). In some way, the issues of psychology journals are interesting, but there is another problem---these journals don't really prove things due to the limitations of their methods.

I also realized the solution.

Brain scientists need to start getting more aggressive and tackle questions of larger scope---similar to the questions psychological philosophers tackle in their books, questions about the nature of perception, conceptualization, decision-making, goal formation, action, etc.

It is true that these experiments will be failed scientific experiments at this time; our scientific knowledge of the brain is not yet strong enough, so these experiments will be over-aggressive, not sufficiently controlled, and fail to prove anything. They might even have trouble getting published in a brain science journal.

But they will yield real, interesting knowledge on significant questions about the mind, and that is what we need.

I've come up with an idea to allow CAD/CAM designers to backtrack

Recently, I was reading a slightly out of date (perhaps a month old, I'm not sure) NASA Tech Brief article about the biggest outstanding problems facing the designers of CAD/CAM software. NASA Tech Brief, by the way, is a monthly magazine put out by NASA about a variety of extremely cool technical subjects. occasionally the subjects are directly related to space exploration. I suppose all of the articles could be related to space exploration in some way, but most of them, like the CAD/CAM software article, have no particular direct connection to space exploration. There is also an online version of this and both are highly recommended.

One major problem delineated by the CAD/CAM article was that designers like to be able to backtrack to a previous point in the design, but they are generally not able to do so with currently existing software.

I came up with the solution---although I am admittedly not qualified in this area (and perhaps not qualified in any area!)

My idea is to have a "shadow" CAD/CAM hardware/software system that would-be slaved to the main system actually utilized by the user to create the design. This would be a master/slave set up, analogous to a master/slave flip-flop---but instead of the slave system being an inversion of the master system, the slave system would be an identical copy of the Master system.

At the core of this new CAD/CAM system, I presume, would be a pair of microprocessors linked together. Microprocessor 1 would be like an ordinary microprocessor at the core of the CAD/CAM system---except it would output a second stream of signals duplicating each signal in its ordinary output. The ordinary output would interface with the CAD/CAM system in the ordinary way doing things like changing the screen display, changing the data file describing the design, etc.

The second output of microprocessor 1 would be the input to microprocessor 2. Microprocessor 2 would not need to concern itself with user inputs since all of its inputs would come from microprocessor 1. Nor would microprocessor 2 need to concern itself with inputs from the knowledge base of the system, since it would be operating in "simple slave" mode. The main thing microprocessor to would do would be to compile a duplicate design data file, identical to the "real" design data file created by microprocessor 1.

Periodically, microprocessor 2 would rapidly copy the entire current design data file. I can't indicate how frequently such a snapshot would need to be taken because of never done CAD/CAM. All of the snapshots would be stored, thus providing a way for the designer to backtrack.

The tricky part of the system is being able to take the snapshots without screwing up the process all of maintaining an accurate design data file. This would be achieved via the insertion of a variable delay line in the data stream connecting microprocessor one and microprocessor 2. The size of the delay would be controlled by microprocessor 2 depending on how "pressed for time" it was.

Suppose a snap shot was once taken every five minutes. Microprocessor 2 would have the capability of shutting off all output from microprocessor 1 for 2-1/2 minutes, thus allowing the system 2-1/2 minutes to make a complete copy of the current design data file. During this 2-1/2 minute period, the content of the working design data file for microprocessor 2 would be frozen, enabling the copy process to go forward.

Once the copy was completed, microprocessor 2 would start allowing new data to flow into itself and start updating the design data file---for 2-1/2 minutes. Microprocessor 2 would be able to input new data twice as fast as microprocessor 1, thus allowing it to "catch-up" with the 5 minute data gap over the 2-1/2 minute period. Microprocessor 2 would also have the power to accelerate the flow of data through the dateline, enabling the "catch-up."

I can't see any logical flaw in this system. Obviously a large amount of storage space would be required for all these designs. in most cases however once the design of the project was finalized and sent to manufacturing, these various partial design data files could be erased---regaining the storage space. It occurs to me that this type of CAD/CAM system might work best with a dumb terminal directly connected to a server.

Friday, March 9, 2007

Paul Mercer---former iPod guru---takes on the iPhone

Today's New York Times has a story about how Palm has hired Paul Mercer, who was instrumental in developing the iPod, to help Palm compete with the iPhone. ("Palm Responds to the iPhone", p. C7)

This article interested me, so I looked up another article on the Web--- here is a small quote.

"'He is an unusually detail-oriented software engineer," said Steve Capps, a former Apple and Microsoft software engineer, who was one of the designers of the original Macintosh interface and the leader of the Newton project, which created a hand-held computer. "He knows how to architect small pieces of software code.'

"Alliances between small firms and big electronics makers are becoming increasingly common as companies are forced to bring new devices to market practically every season.

"'We're seeing the rise of independent specialists who have a deep understanding of things that big companies don't have the ability to do,' said Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley consultant who is chairman of Samsung's science board, an advisory group."

"He Helped Build the iPod, Now He Has Built a Rival;" the New York Times, February 27, 2006; http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/27/technology/27mercer.html?ex=1298696400&en=7ea45081168b7a7f&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss


Here is another reference of some interest I found on Paul Mercer.


"Little-known startup was behind iPod's easy-to-use interface,
Firm's founder now working on the latest handhelds"; San Francisco Chronicle, August 16, 2004; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/08/16/BUGTG878AR1.DTL

Friday, February 16, 2007

idea to combine retail and the Internet

I think when people go to a store such as Rite Aid or CVS---what used to be called a drugstore but I can't even think what it would be called now, convenience store does not seem correct---they should be able to order items within a certain range of categories from the Internet.

The person making the order would have to identify himself or herself by name and show the driver's license to verify identity. However, the person would not be legally responsible for picking up the ordered item once it came and, if he or she did not buy it---the person would not be responsible for paying for the item.

Rather, the store would notify the person by e-mail that the item had arrived, hold it for one week, and then put it up for general sale. Anyone who feel to pick up an item however, or failed to pick up a certain number of items, say maybe three, would lose their ability to order new items.

There are number of purposes contained in this idea. one is an easier and less expensive way to order from the Internet, since a company like Rite Aid would be able to set up some bundled, lower-cost method of shipping. Even more important, however, would be the idea of Rite Aid getting new ideas for products to stock.

In fact, the whole idea of the store would change and become more flexible. In fact, this store would be halfway into the Internet.

A related idea of mine is that each store of this type should list every item they have on the Internet, along with their current price. It seems to be this would be something they could attain for software alone with no hours contributed from people working in the stores. I say this because stores like Rite Aid, due to their computerized cash registers, pretty much know everything that is in each store and have this information in their company servers. Of course, such information would be accompanied by a disclaimer that the information did not constitute a guarantee that a particular item would be in the store and an acknowledgment that errors could happen. However, I believe errors would be extremely rare.

This system would be particularly useful for people without cars for whom it can really be difficult to throttle round from one store to another looking for a particular item.

The idea

Thursday, February 15, 2007

some references on entrepreneurship.

angels; how to snag one to invest in your company; http://www.naturalentrepreneur.com/articles/20040630-01.html

entrepreneurs of expositions (like conventions) http://www.expoweb.com/For_Profit_Shows/April2322200524156PM.htm

drug entrepreneurs; small and aggressive and creative; http://www.startupjournal.com/howto/successstories/20070209-whalen.html
Small Drug Firms Eye Castoffs of Larger Rivals
By JEANNE WHALEN
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal.--February 09, 2007

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Sony's Diffuse Strategy

I have always been a fan of Sony, buying their electronic products and appreciating their quality---as well as appreciating the amazing story of the company---how it arose from the ashes of post-World War II Japan, starting with little more than a few educated, ingenious workers.

So the long, slow decline of the company has been painful for me to watch. It started for me when I bought a Sony device---either a very small entertainment system or a very large boom box depending on how you look at it---that turned out to be crap. Since then, I have followed their stumbling course on the pages of the Wall Street Journal. Their decline has multiple causes. The arrogant dismissal of LCD and plasma TVs because the Trinitron has a better picture. (The Trinitron still has a better picture, but finally, Sony has acknowledged that it doesn't matter, they were wrong, and they are scrambling to try to catch up in LCD TV production. They have teamed up with Samsung to build an expensive new factory---probably just at the point when the best profits from LCD TVs are gone and they are turning into a commodity. Ironically, plasma and LCD TV picture quality is not equal to CRT picture quality, but people want giant screens and a giant CRT screen would have a box behind it that filled up your whole living room. This is because CRT pictures are made by shooting all the electrons out of a "gun"---a single point origin, and the box must encompass this cone, which requires a certain depth per amount of screen area.)

But for me, the central mistake of Sony is their purchase of, and continued ownership of---Time Warner. I think Time may now be sold, which would make it just Warner. In addition, I'll confess I don't know all the details of Sony's ownership of media companies.

What I object to is the basic idea of Sony owning media companies. It stems from them not knowing who they are anymore. They are the tinkerers, they are the builders of great electronic gizmos. This is their business and an attempt to add movies to this is bound to fail. The purchase came about, some of you will recall, in the go-go 90s. There was a theory at that time that hardware didn't matter anymore---only software. When applied to consumer electronics, that meant all the stuff Sony made didn't matter, so Sony went out and bought Warner Brothers said they could own the "content"---which 90's gurus assured everyone was the only source of future profit.

I remember reading at that time (can't specify the year, sorry, but obviously more toward the beginning of the 90s and the end of the 90s) that Cisco was irrelevant company because they only supplied the physical means for the Internet and that didn't matter---only for software and the "content". I remember when I read that I thought, "that's wrong," but I didn't take the next logical leap to realize "Cisco stock must thereby be undervalued and I should buy it." Had I taken that next logical leap, I would now be an extremely wealthy man---had I had any money to buy the stock in the first place.

So Sony went out and bought Warner Brothers, like a million other similar dumb moves in the 90s. But all that BS has been discredited for a long time now, so why hasn't Sony sold Warner Bros. long ago?

These various threads came together in the train wreck of the release of PlayStation 3. They still make the best video games I told myself, the true believer clinging to his faith. I noted the PlayStation 2---which was how many years old?---was still outselling the relatively new Xbox 360 on a month-to-month basis. Okay, that is just competing against Microsoft---not a real company. Everything they make outside of their desktop software fails, from their mobile phone operating systems, to the software they built for one of the Baby Bells to help the deliver TV, etc. They are in fact a utility, not accompany---they cannot compete.

But still, PlayStation has been a great product, everyone agrees. Not that I play video games.

So what did Sony do? They put a Blu-Ray DVD player into each PlayStation 3. This ended up delaying the release of PlayStation 3 quite a while---maybe a year---because they had trouble moving into mass production of the new Blu-Ray technology. The delay gave Nintendo the chance to come up with their innovative new Wii and released at the same time as PlayStation 3. Another case perhaps of Sony, the former king of innovation, being out-innovated. The Blu- Ray story itself looks like a Sony replay. Sony came up with the best videotape machine technology, I think it was called BetaMax. But the other technology ended it up winning and becoming the standard somehow. I have a feeling the same thing will happen with high-definition DVDs players.

But the real key to this whole screw-up is the linkage to Time Warner. That is why the Blu-Ray had to be in the PlayStation 3. Because controlling the dominant DVD player technology, will help boost their distribution of movies---or so they imagine. So they tie the whole company into one long string---and it's sink or swim for everyone at the same time. Except that such an unwieldy strategy almost guarantees the sink outcome---with a delayed, expensive, unprofitable PS3.

It reminds me of Wal-Mart's current floundering---once again stemming from not knowing who you are. Wal-Mart has been having trouble expanding in recent years. This has come about because they are one of the most successful companies in the history of the world and they have almost completely filled up their niche---which is selling retail commodities of every imaginable type at the lowest possible price in America outside the major cities.

Having achieved this singular success, all they had to do was maintain what they had. Shareholders of stock could have been rewarded with dividends---eliminating the need for constant expansion. Instead, Wal-Mart has embarked on two major strategies---international expansion and becoming the next Target. International expansion has failed because there are quintessentially an American company. Becoming the next Target has failed as well. Why is this? Run the historical tape. Target came onto the scene after Wal-Mart was already there (as I understand it). They knew they could never out Wal-Mart Wal-Mart. So, they created their own similar, but somewhat different specialty. It is called Target. They do it extremely well, and like most specialties, it is not easily learned. Target happens to make somewhat more money per square foot because they sell slightly higher-end items. So some accountant at Wal-Mart decided if they just do what Target does, they will boost Wal-Mart's income by X. amount. How sad.

Watching the once great elephant flounder.