AltME groups: search

They may need a license from Sony to make a OS disc though. (ie. 
pay them)

one of the developers for OS 4.1 just got a PS3 so is in the process 
of port to the PS3

true but minus a lot of the newer stuff ie. agg/etc

removed the license restriction this year from the SWF format. So 
anyone can go create anything they want around that format, including 
a player if they want to

Interesting is, that Adobe is working with the Chrome team and that 
MS is not is not a competitor.

That M language is like a lot of languages coming from the MS camp 
lately - they only have meaning if you are a MS shop. They even say 
that the compiler for this language would be cross platform, but 
that since it only describes stuff that MS platform software does, 
the results would have no meaning without that MS software. I guess 
they aren't ever going to go after the Mono project now - they have 
figured out how to compete in a multi-platform world, so they don't 
have to squash the competition anymore.

Wasn't it a bit sluggish?

Is that really a big change? Using 2.4 here. I thought it is mostly 
incremental change. Pity they did not remove JAVA from it - it is 
reported still being kind of sluggish ...

Petr, you can't remove Java from OpenOffice without rewriting Base 
from scratch (a good idea, but still). It is not Java that makes 
OpenOffice sluggish, it is the huge amount of C++ code. It's just 
too large.

Algorithmic changes could help in theory, but modern office apps 
just do a lot of work, and it takes them time to do so.

I felt OO2 was too bloated...A little SLow.

Reichart, the EEE is great, isn't it? My wife teaches, and she uses 
it for short presentations and writing reports during the breaks. 
I think it saves her an hour a day - she wouldn't have used a laptop 
any bigger (and this one is pink...lol). I always joke she is the 
most Linux-savvy user in the house!

Wasn't it a bit sluggish?
 Yes, but it is a tinny computer for $300 (the price of a PDA).


It works well enough for travel.  My wife is the one using it, but 
I played with it  a bit.


I live on a laptop that is a bit larger (not much though) The Fujitsu 
P8020, and is Almost 10x the price.

Microsoft releases Silverlight 2, so it is here, no more a beta ....

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/081013/aqm522b.html?.v=1

We launched Silverlight just over a year ago, and already one in 
four consumers worldwide has access to a computer with Silverlight 
already installed,
 - that is how fast competition is .....

No, I wouldn't do anything like that. The REBOL browser is a whole 
different beast compared to something like Silverlight. I still disagree 
that there is a rush to get a product on the street. REBOL will find 
its niche.

Sure it's important, but fortunately REBOL is not as limited as Silverlight, 
so we don't have to rely on the success on a browser plugin. There 
are many other venues to pursue.

Python3 out today at http://www.python.org/download/releases/3.0/

Jython is finally nearing a 2.5 release ( Python 2.6 beat 3000 out 
the dorr .. )

And IronPython?  It has developed a codecomplex over at http://www.codeplex.com/IronPython
 with no sign of change in months

That's a sick joke

I like the harmonica.  I mean that is the ultimate cool thing to 
do with your phone during a company meeting.  Can get everyone to 
whip them out and have a good ole country jamborie.

Can't imagine playing the harp after a good shave.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081209-safer-than-activex-a-look-at-googles-native-client-plugin.html

Sorry if this isn't new news.   A new native code client side layer

There are web servers written in javascript ... I went to a demo 
a couple of years ago.

Somehow the content of the article is a bit complicated for my understanding, 
but do you think that the article could be talking about possibly 
upcoming Apple netbook? - photo included:

http://bbrv.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-years-resolution.html

Pekr, it's a joke

And it is a relaly cute story...

Well, most public activity stopped in expectations of R3. R2 is sporadically 
updated. But - OTOH we have seen some R2 releases too, freeing library 
component was a good move too. It was just not sold to the public.

Reichart - one of those kids, probably a boy, is a good manager. 
If he can think so extensively, he is a good project manager :-)

LiveJournal, the San Francisco-based arm of Sup, a Russian Internet 
startup, has cut 12 of 28 U.S. 


http://valleywag.gawker.com/5124184/the-russian-bear-slashes-a-social-network


It's only a matter of time before investors reach the same apparent 
conclusion as Paulson: that there's a lot of fuss in running a social 
network, but not that much money.

The company's Moscow-based management has told employees it blames 
the 

global economic downturn" — the kind of pat excuse every boss is 
giving for layoffs, even when mismanagement or a bad business plan 
is really to blame."

It's no longer the number of bums on seats ... you have to have a 
decent business plan too.

I'm using a 64GB USB stick (which is a portable SSD) to store my 
VM images on. Works great.

And I like how today's Windows 7 wikipedia page starts with:
 www.fedoraproject.org

  Fedora is an RPM-based, general purpose operating system built on 
  top of the Linux kernel, developed by the community-supported Fedora 
  Project and sponsored by Red Hat. Fedora's mission statement is: 
  "Fedora is about the rapid progress of Free and Open Source software."


:)  Well, kinda ... GNU/Linux fans lowering themselves to the FUD 
tactics of the "other team".  Makes the good guys look bad too.


And on a refresh; fixed already.  Seems interested parties have until 
Jan 24th to snag an early beta copy from the MS servers.

I'm hearing that it runs well on an old laptop with 512 MB RAM. I 
would love to see them do a good OS for a change, just to keep the 
competition on their toes.

I´d call that a new laptop :-)

Adaptive A.I. Inc. launches commercial AGI-based virtual agent for 
call centers

Playa del Rey, California
January 12, 2009


Adaptive A.I. Inc. (a2i2) today released its first commercial product 
based on its artificial general intelligence (AGI) technology under 
development since 2001. It is a virtual call center operator that 
promises to propel speech-based interactive voice response (IVR) 
systems to much higher levels of performance.


Known as the SmartAction™ IVR System, it being sold and supported 
by a2i2’s recently formed commercial subsidiary, the Smart Action 
Company LLC.


The system is based on a2i2’s LiveAGI™ engine. Its integrated language 
processing, reasoning, memory, and knowledge-base capabilities allow 
it to hold smart, productive conversations. The LiveAGI brain manages 
conversation flow, meta-cognitive state (such as mood, degree of 
certainty and surprise), and determines when clarification or live-agent 
assistance is needed. Its built-in intelligence also allows the system 
to be taught new skills and knowledge, instead of these having to 
be custom programmed. Existing skills include email, as well as web 
and database interaction.


To achieve beyond state-of-the-art voice interaction, top of the 
line speech recognition technology is tightly integrated with the 
AGI brain to provide bi-directional benefits: The speech engine is 
dynamically tuned to current conversation context, while the cognitive 
engine analyzes multiple speech hypotheses for the most likely meaning 
and resolves ambiguities.


These innovations combine to provide solutions that significantly 
reduce the number of routine – and frequently boring and poorly handled 
-- calls taken by human agents while improving customer service levels. 
In addition to providing expected IVR capabilities such as 24/7 availability, 
consistent service quality, and the capacity to handle surges in 
call traffic, the SmartAction IVR System offers personalized responses 
by remembering the caller’s preferences, previous calls and other 
relevant data. Applied over multiple calls, callers don’t have to 
answer the same questions every time they call. If a call is interrupted, 
the system can call the customer back and pick up the conversation 
where it left off.


The company offers the SmartAction IVR System both as a hosted service 
and an in-house hardware-software turnkey solution. A web-based chat 
version is also available.


The ultimate purpose of a2i2’s LiveAGI Brain is to enable a major 
transformation of human-computer interfaces for a broad range of 
applications, such as websites, search engines, console and online 
games, virtual worlds, enterprise software, and consumer products. 
The company is currently researching and developing these applications, 
and under certain conditions will consider creating commercial versions 
in the near term.

About Adaptive AI, Inc.


Adaptive A.I. Inc. was founded in 2001 with the mission of researching, 
developing and commercializing far-reaching inventions in artificial 
general intelligence. Its founder, Peter Voss, has an accomplished 
career as an entrepreneur, inventor, engineer and scientist. His 
contributions to artificial general intelligence cover the fields 
of cognitive science, philosophy and theory of knowledge, psychology, 
intelligence and learning theory, and computer science.

www.adaptiveai.com    www.SmartAction.com

You'd think they would have a live demo chat ... Eliza style to test 
:)

the technology promises a lot - I wonder how much is hype

Peter got back to me...they want to, but it takes a lot of time to 
teach the system (just like it takes time to teach a human to NOT 
MAKE MISTAKES).
They are going go with client testimonials first.

I suggested they build their own FAQ, and they might later.

At least if I hang up on a machine, I won't feel I'm being rude :-) 
Hopefully it speaks clearer than most of the indian call center operators. 
On the serious side I am looking forward to seeing where the tech 
will lead us.

Is there any other way to teach something that works like a human?

well, "works like a human", but implemented on a computer

I have to say that if you're pretty convinced this is for real, it 
adds a lot of weight - I respect your thinking from lurking around 
AltME

Yes, I know Peter personally... Yes, I think it is real.

But, all that said, I have to see it for myself in its complete form.

He is NOT a sales type.

(I think I have a picture of Peter and myself in togas...which should 
not be held against him....  Everything is held against me...so I 
won't even defend myself).

I do believe its possible, i know of two NLP engines which are able 
to "understand" text.


  one is able to tell you that you are not using the proper style for 
  your text!   like if an expression is not in the proper context.

  another is able to identify specific people within a corpus of data, 
  and differenciate people who even have the same (first or last) name. 
   This one will even understand if you are talking about the same 
  person by job title... obama and president are the same.

The 30th alpha build of the 3rd edition of REBOL was released to 
a larger team of developers and testers on 12-Jan-2009

are we a team?

Be there in a sec :-)

Clowder;   and Kaj, point a laser beam onto the pavement of an inner 
city parking lot near a dumpster   the clowder will form in short 
order.  :)

Less fun, more apro might be cluster or clutter ... I'd rather be 
in a clowder.

Hmm, what's the Reboller equivalent of a laser beam?

I had this urge to be a smart ass and write "Lemmings..."

Kaj, yes they do...they are called a Pride, and they work together 
to take down prey.

I would say you a group fo REBOLLers is a "Force"

The rebol equivalent of a laser beam?  REBOL?  or Carl?

a devcon with carl in it?

In the Wiki, Carl added a link to the rebdev mobile client: http://www.rebol.net/cgi-bin/rebdev-web.r

Their is so much other music from great artist that people can download 
for free.  I don't know why people are fussing about certain artists 
getting their money.  They contracted with record companies who are 
going to get most of the money but they will definately also reap 
more money as a result of this.  Let them have their due.  Breaking 
the law is breaking the law.

P: finally?  Seems like a repudiation?

I once saw an interview with Allannah Myles.  When her album Allanna 
Myles hit number 1 and Black Velvet was on every radio, she was worried 
she couldn't pay rent.  She still owed 1.5 million on her "contract" 
and the label had already pocketed 5 million.   We should always 
let sharks eat young keen artists.  It's a fantastic system.  Like 
the lottery.  Sure, someone gets a million dollars every week.  A

Sounds like Myles didn't have a lawyer and just blindly signed a 
contract.

Why do they use a label?

Anyone can produce a great sounding album on their home computer 
now.  And if they can get famous without the record company support, 
they don

Well many have become successful because of the backing of a label.

How do they get success from a label if your telling me that they 
sell more if they give away freely?

The record company's industry has been torn apart, and anyone who 
has a vested interest in their business does not want to see this 
happen.

Record companies used to make a huge return on their investments 
be making stars

They used to spend hundreds of thousands on making albums, and then 
millions on promoting and making a new star famous.

We're chatting in a News channel; this should move

That is actually ok.  I didn't intend to get into a real discusson 
on this issue and I have resigned myself from the politics channels.

A new company, created by a french reboler uses Rebol to develop 
its products.

http://www.grey-soft.com/

I do not see a mention of renol on the website. And the products 
do not seem like something for which rebol would be used.

They have a REBOL logo on their About Us page. I think they would 
use REBOL for the client software that talks to their embedded devices. 
They do kiosks too.

SAP pays Sun to continue to support Java 1.4.2 because the Netweaver 
product needs it.


That's crazy!! Companies spend millions using a technology platform 
that has such a high change/update rate, that it's impossible to 
catch-up with the own products.

This shows the long Rebol release cycles in a complete new light...

There was a stink recently here when it was discovered the police 
had placed someone inside greenpeace! I don't think we're quite ready 
to monitor all communications.

Not exactly.   This is not quite as bad as it looks at first.  It 
is not for multitouch, it is for a specific gesture.  This patent 
will not hold up, but it was easy to file.

It is also a broad claim specefically about how to scale with two 
or more fingers (not how to do general stuff with two or more fingers).

For example, this patent would not stop you from:

- Making a multitouch piano (you could play chords)
- Using two fingers to press and zoom.
- Using all your fingers to to make the page move around

etc.

If you hate one patent, you have to hate all patents.

The patent I still want to see expire is text caret/mouse cursor 
proximity.  Hide the mouse cursor when the text caret is close and 
save people from a little RSI and increase some keyboarding productivity. 
 Why Apple gets to claim that and a judge hasn't struck it down for 
health reasons is beyond me.  It's not like it isn't non-obvious 
either.  SNARL GNASH BARK AT MOON.   ;)

It is not that a Judge as not struck it down (unless you know of 
a case), but it might be that no one wants to fight with Apple, even 
if they think they are going to win.  A patent is the right to fight, 
not the right to win.

Besides that, I am not sure they were really first? Is it called 
a "prior act" or something like that? Look e.g. at www.perceptivepixel.com 
- it was here before iphone ...

I'm a little confused by your view of this, Apple has been filing 
about 1 patent every week since they started!
And, developers are not who thier market is.
You are looking for "Prior art", and you will need to prove that.

why are you bashing apple? you can get great hardware from them, 
os is free you can install anything opensource on it, on the iphone 
any apple developer working for apple on the iphone has it jailbroken, 
they could stop cydia et all today, they don't.. there is this feeling 
lately that they are getting the new M$, my thought is they are just 
trying to protect their business from big dogs doing 0 innovations. 
Tell me one thing, what would be  a world without apple? everybody 
will be using winoze 95.5.123 ...

people are not applauding a new great icon put here or there, they 
are applouding a man who did contribute to bringing computer world 
forward.. now I 'm a big fan of Obama too, soon he will sign the 
Kyoto protocol and this will bring a better world to all of us

Stating that without Apple we would be in Win9x era is a bit - wrong 
imo :-)

I have other friends that have hardware that can only run Vista and 
Vista crash a lot, they would be mouch happy If only they could install 
win98 on their laptop

Noone sane enough would like to install W98 on their laptop :-) There 
is no older windows than W2K, anything older is not Windows, it is 
a mistake in computer era :-)

Carl is a hero too, taking his time to make something great having 
us wanting releases.. and I suspect saying no to big players wanting 
to buy him and RT

The patents that Apple have been filing over various devices like 
the iPhone have not helped them one bit in order to gain control 
over the markets they sit in. The iPhone doesn't get its attention, 
because it's patented. They say there's now going to be a patent 
case between Palm and Apple, due to Palms new very iPhone-like device, 
but I think the only ones who will gain from this, is the pocketbooks 
of the lawyers on both sides. If anything, Palm could face serious 
damage in a time where Apple needs an iPhone competitor to keep them 
on their toes.

As much as I like Apple, I don't want them to have a monopoly on 
things due to patents and courtcases, but because they make truly 
great products.

The Apple fanboys are totally crazy is evident from the MacWheel 
parody by The Onion. I read tons of articles how good idea it is 
before they found that it's just a humour.

The patent system is IMO a dinosaur and will fail anyway. I have 
11 patents. Lessons learned: Don't spend time on  filing patents, 
make the product, push yourself far ahead of competitors and always 
make better products.

One of my friends has used Ubiquity for a while now.  He definiely 
likes it - but it doesn't work well with Vimperator, so I can't really 
use it in Firefox.

I've been using it for a while - I thought the same as you, Petr, 
but once you use it you can see that there is a bit more to it

AdrianS: the thing is, that this news was posted to some of rebol 
worlds some few weeks ago, by me :-) I am well aware of what it means, 
or might mean. I know it is interesting, but it is also how things 
should be, for many many years. This is one of those small things, 
which can turn into something bigger. With a bit of luck though - 
sometimes media choose one thing, and make it become the next big 
thing. E.g. look like Ruby got popular because of Rails, a killer 
app. I wish R3 some killer app too :-)

For what it is worth, Palm CEO mentions that there's a few apps that 
he would like to be launched with Pre.

Epocrates, a medical app is one of them.

Source:

http://www.precentral.net/palm-ceo-ed-colligan-talks-pre-investors

Windows 7 starter version will have a limit of 3 third party apps 
that can be run concurrrently ..... what is MS thinking???

You need a cryptographic signiature to make it look like it's not 
third-party.

I wonder if their previous strategy with doing 3 limited exes on 
Windows XP starter edition was really a success. I doubt it, though.

XP: This is one example of an idea that's created on the whiteboard, 
everyone internal get thrilled about it, a lot of effort is spent 
etc. and that will completely fail in the market. Than everyone is 
totally shocked why this happend. 


Good example how miss-management results in bad products no one cares 
about.

Dubbed 

Nitro," the engine in Safari 4 is said to run JavaScript 4.2 times 
faster than Safari 3."


4.2 times. That's a lot! I'm wondering, why they did it so bad at 
first?

Safari 3's javascript engine is supposed to only be a bit slower 
than Chrome's V8, so I think it's only in extreme cases that it's 
faster.