Webonaut

Just a note for myself really (can't imagine anyone else here being interested in economics...) The Market Hypothesis ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient-market_hypothesis ) is a cornerstone of Capitalism, but it's ideologically flawed. People are sheep - they follow each other. What's more, the ones who aren't sheep who should be asking "what is the true value" of some company or other, are actually asking "what are the sheep going to do". When bubbles form they are propelled even by those who can see it is a bubble. They buy even if they believe the stock to be already overvalued - if they believe others will be suckered into it for some time yet - it's all about getting out in time. The market is beginning to understand - the FT Weekend frontpage confirmed this in UK Hedge Funds Make Millions From Betting On Decline In Value Of Sterling where it says : "The 3 hedge funds - which are the 1st, 2nd and 4th largest in Europe... do no...

Two recent articles about Artificial Intelligence creating music caught my eye + ear : 1. T his one about software that emulates (mostly dead) performers : http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/03/virtual-musicians-real-performances 2. And this one about software that composes : The real Tin Man : http://bit.ly/cGunrQ Firstly, these are both impressive pieces of code - as a developer and a musician this is clear. But secondly, the doom-sayers predicting these replacing humans is garbage. Why? Let's look at each in turn. 1. This is amazing, modelling the characteristics of a performer from dusty old recordings - presumably how loose their timing was etc, and - given a decent quality midi file of a song - plays that song (on a real, MIDI'ed up instrument) in the style of that performer. You can never second guess what a real person is going to do. If I'm well pissed off one night, that will affect the performance. Similarly, when I'm chilled out, and different "me...

will Jobs stop trying to kill Flash? HTML5 is a poor substitute at present: 1. It's WAY slower . Javascript is interpretted and therefore slow. Alright, so Flash bytecode is also interpreted, but in it's half-pre-compiled state the optimised Flash player can crank out a much better frame rate. I made an HTML tester app here http://www.gktvs.com/html5/raycast/ to see how quickly it could handle a real simple 3D game. Not bad on my MacBook Pro, but try it on an iPhone... Can't wait to test this out on an iPad too 2. Source code cannot be hidden . With HTML 5 everything you do is open source, whether you like it or not. Therefore, if you're doing an expensive project there is no way of protecting your code from getting nicked. (note: I like Open Source, but some of my clients will not) 3. It's uncompressed . All of the code, pictures etc get delivered in their raw form, whereas flash compresses the heck out of everything 4. It has no sensible alternative toolkit . Th...

I have a web-site which breaks every first visit because a mysterious rogue flash app was appearing (and presumably it's creators intended to be hidden) that traced back to Clearspring.com. There was absolutely no reference in the code (or in any user entered CMS area) relating to clearspring so this was bamboozling until I nailed it down to the javascript call out for the supposedly reputable AddThis.com. I thought that I was getting a convenient way to add pages to facebook, myspace, twitter etc. but OH YES AND MORE it seems once installed on your page they feel at liberty to put any manner of junk on your site. Firstly, I don't want my pages broken. Secondly, I don't want me or my customers to be tracked (presuming that's what this flash app does) without my knowledge Thirdly, I don't know how well this (now trusted) intruder is written, and what potential security holes that entails. Hell, JUST RUNNING FLASH on a site that currently has none is a security risk i...

I make music, too - I've Got My Lithium Ion You  by  jamesleeds

In comment to the recent attacks by Chinese agencies on Google: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE60E0BC20100115?feedType=nl&feedName=uktechnology&pageNumber=4&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true Security firm McAfee Inc said the recent cyber-attacks exploited a previously unknown flaw in Microsoft Internet Explorer browser. and Microsoft's CEO downplayed the hacking attacks. "There are attacks every day. I don't think there was anything unusual, so I don't understand," Ballmer said. "We're attacked every day from all parts of the world and I think everybody else is too. We didn't see anything out of the ordinary." and Playing down the concerns raised by Google, rival Microsoft Corp said it had no plan to pull out of China. "I don't understand how that helps anything. I don't understand how that helps us, and I don't understand how that helps China," said Steve Ballmer, CEO of the world's largest software ma...

There is much talk of Apple's forthcoming iSlate . Many are predicting flop, but for me it seems like a device that needs to exist - the only reason for a flop is if it's not great to use. For example, Smart Phone web-access was guff before Apple figured out a way to navigate and zoom non-wap web-sites with ease - the rest is history. What would make an iSlate succeed? This, I believe: 1. tactile keyboard - The screen needs to offer feedback, like a traditional keyboard, when the keyboard appears. This seems far fetched, but could be achieved with designated areas. Whether the technology can be advanced enough for ANY shape to become a "key" is not so clear. This would paves the way for something I would ADORE - which is the ability to produce piano keys and knobs. Imagine downloading apps that have their own interface! Bring on the Arturia powered AppStore mini-moog... I'd shell out the £800(?) for the device for this portable wonder alone. 2. Multi-tasking. And ...