Hehehehehehehe ;-) Just to be different. :-) - Kol Tregaskes
where does mwahahahaha come in the scale? :) - alphaxion
:D love to write it that way, but because of the spell check I tended recently to reduce on the number of syllables. hahahaha is usually my level of laugh for the best outta those and hehehe in a more subtle way. - [ zu ]-eBailey
I agree with most of those, except lol is usually between hah and haha and LOL is usually between haha and hahaha. And rofl is around hahaha and ROFL is usually around hahahaha.. but you gotta remember the original... hehe, which is around hah, but in more of a serious laugh. :D - Ken
I love this: "Over the last few months, we've been working with the IE engineers at Microsoft to address these issues: they released a critical update to their JavaScript implementation that fixed a performance problem with how the script engine allocates and frees memory." - Paul Buchheit
Perhaps Google won't bother addressing these challenges in future, and instead tailor everything for Chrome? - Slippy Lane
No, things will have to work with ie6 for a long time, but what they can do is make some of the enhanced features be Chrome-only (things that aren't possible in other browsers). - Paul Buchheit
That's probably a much fairer assessment, given your exposure to the aforementioned, lol. In that case, then, I suppose it's up to the boys and girls at Microsoft and Mozilla to take advantage of the opportunity and get in on the action. I imagine they're already studying the guts of chrome as hard as they can :-) - Slippy Lane
Hopefully, we'll never see "to get this cool feature in Gmail, install Chrome". A plug-in like Gears is a reasonable requirement, though. - Ionut
I wonder if that IE fix addresses the problems we've been having. Does anybody know the KB article for it? - Gabe Schaffer
What is the issue Gabe? I believe the problem they fixed was with GC performance once there were a large number of objects. - Paul Buchheit
Paul: The problem is that after running for some time the app just becomes untenably slow. Our hypothesis was that the GC would run a collection on every allocation once there got to be too many objects, and we were exceeding that limit. I seem to recall you were quite skeptical at the time, Paul, because Gmail hadn't run into that problem. - Gabe Schaffer
I see the author 'Anne' doesn't sign her last name. That could be written by any Obamatron. - Peter Simard
Peter, if you read the letter, she says "If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny +
Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local
government, education, and PTA/parent organizations." A NY Times article also quotes her: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09... - Paul Buchheit
Her "loyalty above competence" description actually sounds a lot like GWB or HRC (and many other politicians I'm sure). - Paul Buchheit
Her letter is obviously authentic -- she fought Palin's attempts to ban books at the local library and fire the librarian. Apparently the author is on Palin's permanent enemies list for standing up for free speech and against censorship. She may be able to enlighten us about which books Palin wanted to ban. Are there any would-be book banners on Friendfeed? Why would anyone who values free speech support Sarah Palin? - Sean McBride
I can't believe that McCain actually found a woman who would NOT draw Hillary supporters! - Gabe Schaffer
I saw the NY Times article but she's attributed as Ann, not Anne. I like the content of this letter and do not support Palin in the slightest. But I want to ensure this isn't cooked up. There's plenty of other stuff that is incontrovertible. - AJ Kohn
"She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas
or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by
her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the
basis of who proposed them." - j1m
Sarah Palin is proof positive that the Republican Party is now dominated by stupidity, ignorance and fanaticism. Is this statement in the least controversial? Palin, the Christian fundamentalist book censor, doesn't even know basic American history. She believes the Pledge of Allegiance (with the phrase "under God") was written by the American Founding Founders!! :) Jefferson, Franklin, Paine, Madison and the rest of the celestial crew would dismiss Palin and her confederates as utter dunces. - Sean McBride
Is this for real? "Perhaps the most famous consumer of rodent cheese is US President, George W Bush. And although he cannot spell, pronounce, or even remember it, Fromage des Merdes is said to be his favourite." - Sanjeev Singh
A lot of interesting details. Wikipedia is better than the news. - Paul Buchheit via Bookmarklet
I've been watching the page get continually updated throughout the morning. When the name was first leaked, there was not a whole lot of info there. Now, the article is about three times as long as it was this morning. - Nathaniel Payne
"She and her father would sometimes wake at 3 a.m. to hunt moose before school" - j1m
this should make Karl Rovites happy: "The fired police chief eventually sued Palin on the grounds that he was fired because he supported the campaign of Palin's opponent, but his suit was eventually dismissed when the judge ruled that Palin had the right under state law to fire city employees, even for political reasons" - Ruth Ferguson
Can we really afford a vice president who might miss that critical 3 a.m. phone call because she's out hunting moose? - Jim Norris
I think that it is 100% okay that Microsoft makes this Windows only. This is a legitimate avenue to add value to Windows. If Apple can make things like iPhoto mac only as a value add to their OS, why shouldn't it be okay for Microsoft to do something similar for Windows? - Joe Beda
@ Joe Beda perhaps because the OS is not the value add - seriously, competition is great but you running Vista yet? All of this user generated content App rush (don't forget Adobe & flash issues) is good for users generating content ... fwiw not an apple v msft issue when downstream app cos are historically crowded out by Windows OS - creep - Scott Moskowitz
I should be clear -- I think that it is in Microsoft's best interest to have the player work everywhere (ala silverlight). However, on the creation side of things, I think it is a great way for Microsoft to make Windows more compelling. Obviously as a user we'd like to see everything be cross platform, but I think it is legit for MS to only offer the creation software on Windows. (Can I get Apple's Aperture on Windows? What about Final Cut Pro?) - Joe Beda
I see nothing wrong with Microsoft making PC only software. But it still doesn't mean I can use it on my Mac. - Thomas Hawk
It doesn't seem to play well with Parallels/XP either. Once I installed the plug-in, every visit to the Photosynth site crashed IE. On an unrelated note, the language of the notice regarding their lack of cross-platform support is very un-Microsoft (not in a bad way). Anyway, looking forward to giving it a shot once they get a handle on the traffic spike. - Tom Harrison
The TED demo of this software was one of the coolest and most inspiring things I've seen re. software (esp. M$ software) in a long time. - Hillary Hartley via feedalizr
format independence & with it OS independence will be a boon to computing ... we are analogs not digits - Wes Schadenfreud via twhirl
This is Windows only, but I'm okay with that. Stuff like this is one legitimate avenue for Microsoft to add value to Windows and make it more compelling. If Apple can release iPhoto for Mac only to add value to the Mac experience... - Joe Beda via Bookmarklet
"In Alabama it is illegal to recommend shades of paint without a license. In Nevada it is illegal to move any large piece of furniture for purposes of design without a license. In fact, hundreds of people have been prosecuted in Alabama and Nevada for practicing "interior design" without a license. Getting a license is no easy task, typically requiring at least 4 years of education and 2 years of apprenticeship." - Paul Buchheit via Bookmarklet
Paul, Licensing in general is a serious problem in a free market. It creates an artificial barrier to entry and leads people to believe that the government can protect them from poor quality. But licensing doesn't ensure quality it limits supply which keeps prices high, thus hurting those it claims to protect, the consumer. - Steve Olson
There are good arguments that US doctor's salaries are kept artificial high by medical schools (they only admit a small number of people), licensing boards (requiring internships of immigrants), and immigration policies (keeping them out in the first place). And of course doctors won't let nurses perform procedures they might be well qualified to do. Overall health might be higher if we relaxed some of these requirements. - Larry Greenfield
Larry, Yes, you are correct. If the purpose of licensing is to ensure quality of health care, why do patients frequently have correct a doctor's incorrect diagnosis. I predict that in the future medical care will shift to nations where licensing is relaxed. Medicine aside, why do you need a license to cut hair? It is the government's responsibility to protect you from a bad haircut? Seesh! - Steve Olson
Wrt nurses performing procedures -- there are a couple of reasons: 1) You can't bill as much, or in some cases, at all if a resident or nurse does the procedure and 2) the supervising doctor has her name on the chart and has her ass on the line if something goes wrong. That being said, a significant percentage (~23% in 98-99) of health care today is performed by nurse practitioners -- heavily weighted to family practice and lower paying rural, women and pediatric populations. - Joe Beda
"For between £200 and £2,000, people can buy a cow that stands no taller than a large German shepherd dog, gives 16 pints of milk a day that can be drunk unpasteurised, keeps the grass “mown” and will be a family pet for years before ending up in the freezer." (via boing boing) - Joe Beda
Are mini cows better for the ozone layer? - Gary Burd
“california's peak year of gold production was 1851, producing 3,932,631 fine ounces, just slightly less than the amount required to make a solid cube, 2 meters on a side”
Don't tell her. Just go to work as normal and surf. Otherwise, you'll be decorating four bedrooms, fixing that dripping tap and building a conservatory. - Andy C
what do you mean by sick days? is this a US phenomenon? - Jamie
Enjoy the time with the family. Those first weeks are so import to not only bond with the baby but also to support your wife. When we had Annie I put off my paternity leave a little in order to take up the slack when the grandparents had left and Rachel was getting ready to go back to work. Looking back, I wish I had spent more time with her right after the birth. This next time I'm probably going to take ~7-10 weeks. - Joe Beda
Jamie, some companies pay you on days you missed work because you are sick. It isn't a universal phenomenon. For example, my wife's job doesn't pay you until your 3rd consecutive day of being sick. So if she misses 2 days of work due to the flu, she doesn't get paid for those days. On the other hand, I would. - Dare Obasanjo
oh I get you now..didn't quite understand at first. I work for MS too in the UK and it's the same here. - Jamie
Here are some informed questions.Ask him about his preference of audio monitors. This is a religious question. - Matthew Davidson via twhirl
coudl u ask him why he doest want to stay in canada ? This is a torontian askin ..after all he has never given up his canadian citizenship , but stays in the states like for 30plus yrs - Peter Dawson
Holy Moly That Is Cool! @Josh: A Southern man don't need him around anyhow! - Mattb4rd
See if he'll dish on who will be at this year's bridge concert. Inquiring ticket buyers want to know! - Bill Sanders
Matthew: we hung out in his old mobile recording rig. What a hoot. Bill: Neil wasn't there, he's on tour in Europe. We'll have a separate interview with Neil someday, this was mostly to see the technical aspects of making music. Hearing his stuff straight off of his two-inch-tape was freaking awesome. - Robert Scoble
You have an amazing life Robert with the people you get to interact with! - Joe Dawson
Dale: my producer, Rocky helped build his studio when he was 12-years-old. His dad built it, which is one reason we got in, but the real reason was to talk to his audio engineer about how much quality of his music is lost at CD-quality (Neil wants people to be able to listen to music recorded at 192 khz per second -- CD's are recorded at 44.1 khz). We listened to his music recorded at 192 and then on CD and it's not even close. The quality difference is so extreme. - Robert Scoble
I learned that Neil was one of the first artists to try digital, but that he went back to analog tape recording (the tapes cost about $1,000 per hour, by the way) because he didn't like the emotion that he could capture on analog. - Robert Scoble
Kingsley: we'll talk about his electric car project when we do a real interview later in the year. - Robert Scoble
Robert, vinyl purists have been saying that for years: digital can't capture the heart between 0 and 1. - Akiva Moskovitz
Digital captures exactly what the heart is, cold and calculated! - Geoff Schultz
Can I get one for the body as well as the face? - Dion Almaer
Very interesting. Hope they post the download link soon so that we can all play with it. - Brady Brim-DeForest
It seems as if the main problem with most people in the examples shown is their forehead is too short or too narrow. Wonder if there's a subtle clue that big brains are beautiful there! :) - Lindsay Donaghe
@Jason - that's an interesting concept. Would you be more likely to trust the girl on the left or right? Would you be more likely to talk to either one of them at a party (or more intimidated by either one?). - Lindsay Donaghe
Notice that for all the women they soften the jaw, while squaring it for men. Everyone also gets a slightly thinner face and upturned almost smiling lips. - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)
@SB yeah and the forehead adjustment... almost like there is a triangle with the forehead at the point and they flip it so the chin is the bottom of the triangle... weird. - Lindsay Donaghe
They are different women! Blame Paul! : ) - Erhan Erdogan
Lindsay: whenever sketching generic faces, the face starts as an inverted triangle and the eyes appear a third of the way down from the top of the forehead; lips and nose appear below and above (respectively) a line 1/3 up from the chin. Looks like these pictures are rearranged to meet that particular school of drawing. - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)
That is interesting yet odd. Seems that the faces are slendered with the software. - Jim Goldstein via twhirl
I wonder what would come out of applying their algorithms to face of black or asian person? Different countries have different concepts of beauty. - artemy tregubenko
This technology should be made available in eye glasses, just imagine how much better your work day can be! - Claude Betancourt
Paul - Think you should definitely add the option. "Click here to be beautiful without the expense of plastic surgery! .... and you may even get more 'Likey's" :)" - Charlie Anzman
Some of the stuff coming out of Siggraph this year is really freaky. How about combining this with the automatic video editing stuff? ;) - Joe Beda
without a doubt amazing. It's incredible how subtle the changes are yet massive difference. - Zee at WeDoCreative
Huh, that's pretty crazy. Creepy, but cool. :) - felix
I haven't read the paper, but I wonder if it adapts to different notions of "attractive" (that changes from culture to culture ...) - Rui
+1 @Claude I was thinking the same thing! Incorporate this software in wearable monitor glasses, and the whole world would be beautiful! I'll bet we can look for these on the shelves in the U.S. just before November. Social media and reality enhancement software have put Winston Smith out of a job. - Chris Kim A
Isn't this something these Japanese photo booth do since years? - minus3
do i sense another manga-style meme starting? - anna
So, if it turns me into Gilbert Godfried... what does that mean? - l0ckergn0me
You know, if these guys had gotten together with the realtime video+photo enhancement folks and approached the Beijing Olympic Comittee then that singing girl in the opening ceremonies might not have had to been replaced with a body double. (Yeah, I just brought three of this week's
