http://www.dudek.org//blog/ A Weblog Product for Zope Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:40:31 -0400 Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:40:31 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss COREBlog 1.2.5.1 dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/130 Today I visited Wolfram Burgard's lab in Freiburg Germany. There are numerous interesting projects going on there, including work on range estimation frok video and range data, and modeling of robot kinematics using Gaussian processes (the latter wasweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/130 Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:18:52 -0400 Wolfram Burgard's lab in Freiburg Robotics dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/129 I am going to the Robotics Science and Systems Conference and want to load my Garmin GPS with a map of Europe. The open source gpsbabel program seems suitable, but the macports install (port install gpsbabel) fails with an error as follows: configureweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/129 Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:40:47 -0400 GPS map formats, maps, and mac OS X support Hacks dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/128 We applied for and received funding from Microsoft to develop tools and infrastructure to use Microsoft Robotics Studio (MSRS) with our underwater and walking robot systems. Our work has involved the control of our robot both underwater and on land uweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/128 Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:07:17 -0400 Microsoft Funding for MSRS and Aqua Robotics dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/127 I attended the Apple World-Wide Developer's Conference last week (in additional to visiting people at Stanford, Google and PARC). Most of the actual content that was presented at the conference is covered by non-disclosure agreements, but a few ... http://www.dudek.org/blog/127 Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:05:20 -0400 Apple's WWDC 2008 developer's conference Computers and Technology dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/126 I was at the AI/GI/CRV/IS set of conferences last week and took part in a panel discussion on the future of artificial intelligence, along with Jonathan Schaeffer and Kate Larson, and moderated by Kevin Leyton-Brown. We had been charged by Kevin to tweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/126 Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:06:24 -0400 Computer and Robot Vision (CRV) conference Robotics dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/125 The deadline for early registration for Robotics Science and Systems (RSS) in Zurich has been extended to June 1st. Student registrations are only 199 Euros. RSS is a single-track conference that attempt to cover all areas of robotics research, so itweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/125 Mon, 26 May 2008 17:34:20 -0400 Robotics Science and Systems registration extension Robotics dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/124 I was using the zope server to generate barcode images using PIL, and found one of my PIL methods was throwing an error when used in Zope, but not otherwise. The error is a follows: Error Type: AttributeError Error Value: 'module' object has no attriweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/124 Thu, 15 May 2008 21:56:10 -0400 Awful python & zope error making barcodes Hacks dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/123 The 2008 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation will be taking place in Pasadena May 19-23, with open technical talks on the 21, 22 and 23rd. We are presenting a paper on Friday at 2:40pm entitled "A Natural Gesture Interface for Opweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/123 Tue, 13 May 2008 21:24:16 -0400 Robotics and Automation in Pasadena RoboticsTravel dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/122 One of our intrepid people took a sensor node to the beach to collect some data underwater. Unfortunately, there was a leak in the housing. The salt water flooded the computer enclosure. If the computer if off, then a quick wash in fresh water ... http://www.dudek.org/blog/122 Mon, 12 May 2008 18:52:50 -0400 Salt water on computer RoboticsMiscellaneous dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/121 Last week I gave an invited lecture at the Annual Huggins Science Seminar at Acadia University. My talk dealt with the current state of robotics for outdoor environments. The Huggins Science Seminar is an event named after Charles Huggins, the Nobel weofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/121 Mon, 12 May 2008 09:22:53 -0400 Acadia's Huggins Science Seminar TravelEducationScience dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/120 The invited speakers for the Robotics Science and Systems conference 2008 have been announced in public. They are Jean-Louis Deneubourg , Howard Berg and Luis von Ahn. The general philosophy for RSS invited talks is to get illustrious speakers who arweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/120 Fri, 09 May 2008 15:36:57 -0400 Robotics Science and Systems invited speakers Robotics dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/119 Comments on this blog have been disabled or broken for a long time. I was driven to madness by comment spammers. They're finally both fixed and enabled again. http://www.dudek.org/blog/119 Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:18:23 -0400 Comments fixed again Miscellaneous dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/118 I recently had a look at the new Canon Powershot SD890 IS digital camera. It is part of Canon's ELPH line, and also known as the It has one impressive feature: a 5x optical zoom. This is a higher zoom pactor than any prior camera in the EPLH line, whweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/118 Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:32:40 -0400 Canon SD890 noise comparison: flaws, few advantages Computers and TechnologyDigital TV and Video dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/117 My iPhone has been syncing to the wrong calendar in iCal. Here is a simple procedure for merging two calendars together using iCal on OS X. This allows you delete one of the calendars after combining it with another. 1) Use the Export option in the Fweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/117 Wed, 23 Apr 2008 07:49:34 -0400 Combining two calendars together using iCal Hacks dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/116 April 26th, 2008 is the holiday to celebrate the free exchange of ideas, written words, artworks, and other intellectual content. The exchange and retention of complex ideas is one of the key things ... http://www.dudek.org/blog/116 Sun, 20 Apr 2008 17:11:11 -0400 RIP Day Intellectual Property & CopyrightMiscellaneous dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/115 On the other hand, the creationist agenda represents a dangerous element of decay in our society. While I try to resist the bloggers weakness of reposting things, this is too good to miss. The movie "Expelled" and the beliefs it encourages are discussed. http://www.dudek.org/blog/115 Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:15:11 -0400 Evolution and the foolishness of the Expelled movie Science dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/114 April 26, 2008 is World IP day. Some lay people are still unaware of the term "Intellectual Property" (IP) which refers to the fact that non-tangible things, like music, inventions and ideas, can be legally protected. My colleague Luc Devroye has a pweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/114 Sat, 12 Apr 2008 11:08:54 -0400 Intellectual Property Protection as a bad thing? Speak out on World IP Day. Intellectual Property & Copyright dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/113 Python includes a uudecode and uuencode module (accessible via "import uu"), but the module only supports base32 uudecoding, and not base64. I needed base64. Although I have posted an official patch to the python2.4 library, python had already moved weofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/113 Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:23:38 -0400 base64 uudecoding for python uu.py HacksProgramming and Software dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/112 The 1st US-Asian Demonstration and Assessment of Micro-Aerial and Unmanned Ground Vehicle Technology was recently held in Agra, India. There was a competition for micro-aerial unmanned systems involving 12 teams that got the required flight and securweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/112 Wed, 02 Apr 2008 23:00:43 -0400 US-Asian Unmanned Ground Vehicle Conference Robotics dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/111 I've been hearing about Twitter for a while now. It's a communal micro-blog. In general, I have though it was ridiculous and constituted a way for people to waste time. Worse, I tend to value my privacy and a site that wastes time and exposes your prweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/111 Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:30:00 -0400 Twitter: people with nothing better to do, or... MiscellaneousComputers and Technology dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/110 Earth hour came and went in Montreal. We kept our lights off as a symbolic gesture, but not much change was apparent from either our immediate neighbors or the bit of cityscape I managed to see. The impact of electrical usage from Earth Hour would haweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/110 Sun, 30 Mar 2008 00:46:23 -0400 Earth Hour Montreal: not much happens Miscellaneous dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/109 I recently configured a Linux (Ubuntu) web server for SSL support. Here is the recipe and a fix to an problem. The easy solution to generating self-signed certificates ... http://www.dudek.org/blog/109 Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:53:58 -0400 apache2 SSL configuration, error -12227 and self-signed certificates HacksProgramming and Software dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/107 The celestron Sky Scout can identify any well known star in the sky that you point it at. The SkyScout uses a combination of simple technologies, and is review here in more detail. There is a descriptive video review. http://www.dudek.org/blog/107 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:08:51 -0400 Sky Scout star finder Science dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/106 Well, you asked for pictures from the High School robotics competition I mentioned. Here are a couple. http://www.dudek.org/blog/106 Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:16:00 -0400 St George's robot pictures RoboticsEducation dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/105 The St. George's School Robotics Team, with Nicholas playing a key position, recently participated in a regional robotics competition. They built a robot that had to drive around under remote control and shoot bean bags at a large (30 foot high) scorweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/105 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:56:19 -0400 St. George's Robotics Team RoboticsEducation dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/104 There is a contest going on with Iceland Airlines, who have a new service out of Toronto. If I can get lot of people to click on my photo, I will win a free trip to Iceland with my wife. This would be great since she has been wanting to go there forever... http://www.dudek.org/blog/104 Sat, 08 Mar 2008 11:28:13 -0500 Get us to Iceland! Show the power of the blogosphere! Travel dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/103 The techfest (see prior post) features a large number of individual projects from Microsoft research. Much of the event is for internal consumption by Microsoft employees, but today only they have a "public" day that is also open to invited visitors weofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/103 Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:03:56 -0500 Techfest 2008 (continued) Computers and Technology dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/102 Techfest is just starting, but is already clear it is very cool. It makes Microsoft look very good by showcasing the impact their work is having. It's an impressive set of attendees. On the bus here I sat with Bob Constable. It's also very well orcheweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/102 Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:31:14 -0500 techfest Computers and Technology dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/101 Next week I will be in Washington State. The trip is courtesy of Microsoft and I will be visiting the Techfest at Microsoft Research. http://www.dudek.org/blog/101 Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:13:14 -0500 Microsoft Techfest Computers and Technology dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/100 I am meeting in Ottawa as part of the NSERC grant selection committee for computer science. This is a brutal exercise due to rather limited amount of funds in a growing area. On the other hand, I think the process is very fair with a lot of discussioweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/100 Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:32:54 -0500 NSERC grant selection committee Science dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/99 I saw the movie Live Free of Die Hard recently. The film involves a heroic hacker Matthew Farrell who gets into trouble due to his illicit hacking-for-hire. The movie is enjoyable, given that one expects it to be a mindless action romp from the outseweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/99 Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:24:52 -0500 Live Free of Die Hard: the IP addresses Computers and Technology dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/98 Focus groups and polling have become a standard approach not only for advertising, but also for developing political platforms or even for developing courses. Even research, to some extent, develops by building consensus, but sometimes this just doesweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/98 Sat, 02 Feb 2008 11:44:02 -0500 Group consensus and focus groups a bad idea? MiscellaneousScience dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/97 Today we had a fourth great day of robot systems tests. We also had a small crew from the Discovery Channel visiting for the last two days and grabbing video, and a professional subsea videographer who accompanied us underwater. Over the last couple weofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/97 Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:09:41 -0500 Robots Tests Went Well RoboticsScience dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/96 One week to go before our robot sea trials. Things are pretty crazed. Lots of work to do and, of course, there are always those last-minute surprises. Kroy is getting left behind. http://www.dudek.org/blog/96 Sun, 06 Jan 2008 09:17:16 -0500 Amok Time Robotics dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/95 I've been off the air for a couple of weeks. My son had the flu, my step-father had a touch on pneumonia, and my cousin died. http://www.dudek.org/blog/95 Sun, 30 Dec 2007 11:42:50 -0500 Off the air for a while Miscellaneous dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/94 The robot uprising starting with an onslaught on our morale. I saw robots stealing Christmas Trees at the Atwater farmer's market. Robot Ramius with guts out Robot Ramius with guts out http://www.dudek.org/blog/94 Tue, 25 Dec 2007 00:48:56 -0500 The Robot Uprising has begun Miscellaneous dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/93 Book I might give for gifts, for the science inclined. http://www.dudek.org/blog/93 Sat, 15 Dec 2007 11:28:03 -0500 Gift books MiscellaneousScience dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/92 The Canadian version of a DMCA-like law was not introduced as expected and will be deferred until at least January 2008. From the senate transcript: "Senator Tardif: Honourable senators, it appears that the Minister of Industry decided not to introduweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/92 Thu, 13 Dec 2007 23:26:18 -0500 Canadian DMCA deferred Intellectual Property & Copyright dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/91 We are preparing for the next Sea Trial for the Aqua robots. At currently have 3 different members of the Aqua family on the bench in different states of disassembly. In addition, we have a new network of sensor nodes being finished and readied for tweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/91 Sun, 09 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0500 3 robots getting ready to swim Robotics dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/90 Last March, McGill hosted a conference at the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy . In a recent episode of the program "Search Engine" from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) some of his thoughts from this conference, including doubts abweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/90 Fri, 07 Dec 2007 11:45:56 -0500 DMCA founder comments on lack of success: McGill Conference Intellectual Property & Copyright dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/89 A new proposal regarding Canadian copyright legislation is coming and has big implications for computer data in particular. Canadians need to consider it and speak out (against it). News, links, things you can do. http://www.dudek.org/blog/89 Thu, 29 Nov 2007 15:59:10 -0500 Canadian DMCA: urgent call to participate! Computers and TechnologyIntellectual Property & Copyright dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/88 Armed robots are on patrol in IRAQ (carrying loaded machine guns). They are not actually autonomous, but remote controlled, but they do carry M249 SAW machine guns. http://www.dudek.org/blog/88 Wed, 21 Nov 2007 22:08:53 -0500 Remote control robots in IRAQ RoboticsTravel dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/87 These charts show recent job trends, and computer science is trending up. So is C, as well as Python. There is also a chart showing what programming languages are mentioned explicitly. Surprisingly, C remains a dominant theme. Python has a clear ... http://www.dudek.org/blog/87 Wed, 14 Nov 2007 10:50:17 -0500 Jobs up in computer science, C the dominant language EducationComputers and Technology dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/85 McGill University managed to break into the top dozen schools in the world, according to the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES). This is one of the more rigorous and large-scale university ranking exercises, which spans universities from all ovweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/85 Wed, 14 Nov 2007 10:46:43 -0500 McGill in top dozen world research schools Education dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/84 I'm at the DARPA grand challenge for robot vehicles and these are some comments and photos. Six of eleven finalist teams completed the course including those from MIT, Stanford, CMU and Cornell. http://www.dudek.org/blog/84 Sat, 03 Nov 2007 19:08:36 -0400 DARPA grand challenge visit Computers and TechnologyRoboticsScience dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/83 The USA has mandated the termination of regular analog TV after 2009, and now Canada has done the same scheduled for 2011. Worse yet, the technology still has serious problems for many consumers. http://www.dudek.org/blog/83 Wed, 24 Oct 2007 00:47:06 -0400 The end of free TV MiscellaneousDigital TV and VideoIntellectual Property & Copyright dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/82 These are shell incantations for transcoding video with ffmpeg. The standard open-source programs for transforming video are ffmpeg and mencoder. Recipes include the generation of movies for the iphone. http://www.dudek.org/blog/82 Mon, 15 Oct 2007 16:54:28 -0400 video transcoding recipes with ffmpeg HacksiPhoneDigital TV and Video dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/81 This year I am serving on the one of the Federal granting councils that awards the basic NSERC grant to computer science researchers. It's a lot of work but it has already provided and interesting overview of the research scene in Canada. As opposed weofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/81 Sun, 14 Oct 2007 14:14:33 -0400 NSERC reviewing: giving out federal science funding Science dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/80 It was my birthday yesterday we had pleasant but quiet evening. On a blog-relevant note, I got a Shure MPA-3c "Music Phone Adapter Cable" as a gift. It's a cable that plugs into the iPhone and let's you use any pair of headphones (such as my nice in-weofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/80 Sat, 13 Oct 2007 12:39:48 -0400 My Birthday: connectors are Shure good Miscellaneous dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/79 Code was added here to allow postings to be rated by visitors. This is AJAX based, so rating an item does not cause a page reload unless it's clicked before the page has finished loaded (in which case the required javascript may not have been launcheweofije http://www.dudek.org/blog/79 Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:30:40 -0400 Added rating bar for COREBlog and Zope Hacks dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/78 The software selects interesting images automatically from a video sequence. The technique is aimed especially at robot navigation records where the interesting images depict different locations in the world. http://www.dudek.org/blog/78 Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:45:47 -0400 Picking interesting pictures ScienceRobotics dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/76 This news will be all over the place soon, but I was surprised it has not been widely publicized yet. The software-onlysolution for unlocking the iPhone to allow it to work with and GSM cell phone company was released for free yesterday. A solution tweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/76 Wed, 12 Sep 2007 08:50:50 -0400 iPhone unlocked without opening case, free HacksiPhone dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/75 A program to save, restore and inspect the notes database from the iPhone. http://www.dudek.org/blog/75 Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:01:50 -0400 iPhone note sync save (getNotesaver.py) HacksProgramming and SoftwareiPhone dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/74 A while ago I made some comments on the impending stronger copyright laws facing Canada. I think the proposed legislation remains inappropriate and unbalanced. Michael Geist is a regular commentator on this issue and has produced a nice movie/slide sweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/74 Fri, 07 Sep 2007 17:45:20 -0400 Michael Geist on copyright laws Computers and TechnologyIntellectual Property & Copyright dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/73 The slate of invited keynote speakers for RSS 2008 is starting to get populated. One of the speakers will be Kevin O'Regan. He does very influential work on human perception, specifically including visual attention, color perception, and change blindweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/73 Sat, 01 Sep 2007 12:52:13 -0400 RSS gets O'Regan as guest speaker ScienceRobotics dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/72 Well I finally got my hands on an iPhone and it's just as nice a device as all the media frenzy would lead you to believe. In activating it, I did encounter and fix an activation error. http://www.dudek.org/blog/72 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 21:37:58 -0400 The iPhone is just as sweet as they say HacksComputers and TechnologyProgramming and SoftwareiPhone dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/71 Google ranks for various email addresses, famous and otherwise. It's just not worth hiding your mail address if you are active on the internet, famous, or have published a lot. http://www.dudek.org/blog/71 Wed, 22 Aug 2007 22:13:17 -0400 Why hide your email address? Computers and Technology dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/70 The is a python COREblog "hook" method to allow me to be notified when comments are addded to the blog. This posting is only relevant to COREBlog users. The following script sends me email when a comment is added. http://www.dudek.org/blog/70 Tue, 31 Jul 2007 11:56:00 -0400 COREblog comment hook for anti-spam moderation Hacks dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/69 A very surprising meta-analysis was reported in the journal Nature. Apparently a group at Bristol University and Cardiff University, UK found that cannabis use was liked much my higher incidence of psychotic illness in later life. Apparently even theweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/69 Sat, 28 Jul 2007 17:41:11 -0400 Marijuana use linked to psychosis Science dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/68 The pool trials with simultaneous use of two underwater robots went pretty smoothly, despite major last-minute roadblocks. The night before the pool trial we discovered that a custom-made video-to-fiber-optic transducer board was not working. Chris tweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/68 Wed, 25 Jul 2007 21:32:15 -0400 Multi-robot pool trial successful Robotics dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/67 I stopped in at Chapter's Bookstore in Montreal to drop of our kids just before the release of the new Harry Potter book 7. Even though it was a couple of hours before the book became availabe, the crowd was large and very enthusiastic. I had hoped tweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/67 Fri, 20 Jul 2007 23:04:11 -0400 Harry Potter Lineups at Chapters Montreal, Special postal delivery Miscellaneous dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/66 CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Company, has a feature on consumer robots on their on-line edition today. It includes articles discussing the destiny and state of consumer robotics, as well as the need for investment on robotics industrial to stay in weofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/66 Fri, 20 Jul 2007 09:48:40 -0400 CBC robots feature RoboticsScience dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/65 The next pool trial of the Aqua robot family is schedule for tomorrow. We will be using the huge McGill University pool to run serval kinds of experiments. We will be doing tests with both Aqua 1.0 and well as the newer model called Ramius. Ramius haweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/65 Wed, 18 Jul 2007 17:18:53 -0400 Pool Trial of the robot upcoming Robotics dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/64 The Robotics Science and Systems Conference for 2007 just took place in Atlanta. This was the third RSS and consolidates its position as a primary consistent venue for robotics research. The 3-day meeting, as usual, features a number of 1-hour presenweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/64 Mon, 09 Jul 2007 10:38:04 -0400 RSS (Robotics Science and Systems) Atlanta 2007 Computers and Technology dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/63 I am using a Canon SD430 digitial camera for a project. This is a decent 5MP camera with the ability to transfer images or do remote control image capture (or previewing) via 802.11b wireless (WiFi). It is normally expensive, but Amazon is having a cweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/63 Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:09:14 -0400 Low priced wireless camera Computers and TechnologyHacks dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/62 Want to see the DCMA come to Canada? The Canadian parliment's INDU commitee is suggesting something pretty much like that. A recent report makes a substantial series of recommendations. They have inaccurate and unsubstantiated figures on the impact aweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/62 Thu, 21 Jun 2007 22:24:28 -0400 Hey, let's have the DMCA in Canada too! Computers and Technology dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/61 The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) will not be adding red and pink coral to the list of protected species this year. The June 2007 CITES meeting just concluded and despite a proposal to limit the trde in red, pink andweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/61 Thu, 21 Jun 2007 09:45:16 -0400 Red Coral not protected in CITES Science dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/60 One of my students has a friend who works and Apple and who visited with their iPhone. They really exist and they seem to work in Canada. They couldn'y say much about it, but it seems to live up to expectations. (I didn't get to play with it myself.) http://www.dudek.org/blog/60 Mon, 18 Jun 2007 22:36:59 -0400 iphone in Canada Computers and TechnologyiPhone dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/59 The people at Braintech have developed in interesting software package that provides a simple mechanism for adding vision-based tracking to Microsoft Robotics Studio. Their package is called Volts-IQ runs as a MSRS service. It seems really easy to usweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/59 Wed, 13 Jun 2007 09:20:02 -0400 Vision system based on Microsoft Robotic Studio Computers and Technology dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/58 I have installed familiar linux (0.8.4) on an IPAQ 3900, with the Opie user interface. I messed up the touchscreen calibration and had a very hard time fixing it. If anybody ever has this problem (and it is reported occasionally on the net), you can weofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/58 Thu, 07 Jun 2007 15:45:31 -0400 Familiar linux on ipaq pointer calibration Hacks dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/57 The 2007 Computer and Robot Vision (CRV) just finished. It took place in Montreal combined with AI 2007, Graphics Interface and the Precarn conference. From all accounts the conference combination worked well and there is a desire to hold all four coweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/57 Sat, 02 Jun 2007 10:40:36 -0400 Computer and Robot Vision Computers and TechnologyRoboticsScience dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/56 The US Attorney General has proposed some astonishly harsh changes to the already Draconian and repressive copyright legislation in place in the United States. As described at CNET, the new laws would criminalize merely "attempting" to infringe copyrweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/56 Tue, 15 May 2007 21:01:15 -0400 Astonishing new proposals for copyright MiscellaneousIntellectual Property & Copyright dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/55 The first reviewing phase for the International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV) ended this weekend. This first page was intended to cull those papers that clearly didn't fit the ICCV template without even providing them with a full normal reviewweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/55 Sat, 12 May 2007 13:47:24 -0400 ICCV Phase 1 reviewing finished Science dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/54 Various sites on the internet, including this one, have been deluged by visitors attempting to visit the web page 09-F9-11-...-56-88-C0 even where that page does not exist! The result is errors in my web log with this code in the error. http://www.dudek.org/blog/54 Wed, 02 May 2007 01:06:47 -0400 Web sites overloaded with visits to (that number) Computers and TechnologyHacks dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/53 Last Friday I was at the Universoty of Texas, Austin for the doctral defense of Mohan Sridharan. Mohan's thesis dealt with color recognition and constancy (and re-calibration) for navigation and localization. A key part of his work deals with adaptinweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/53 Mon, 30 Apr 2007 20:27:06 -0400 U Texas, Austin RoboticsComputers and TechnologyEducation dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/52 Robots are increasingly being used for warlike purposes. While we are very far from building a robot like the one on the movie "The Terminator", fully automated machine guns have already been deployed between North and South Korea. There are active rweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/52 Wed, 25 Apr 2007 17:54:16 -0400 Robots that kill. Robots in Warfare? Robotics dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/51 I am at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Rome, and Tandy Trower (general manager of the Microsoft Robotics Group) gave a long presentation pitching MicroSoft Robotics Studio to the robotics research community. The reaction wweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/51 Fri, 13 Apr 2007 02:29:05 -0400 Tandy Trower and Microsoft Robotic Studio RoboticsComputers and TechnologyProgramming and Software dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/50 Just back from Orlando where I gave a colloquium talk at the University of Central Florida (I talked about the AQUA robot and some of the vision algorithms we are developing for it). [This was a second trip after a botched visit recently.] There is aweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/50 Mon, 02 Apr 2007 00:04:00 -0400 UCF trip (reprise) TravelComputers and TechnologyEducation dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/49 I am teaching a computer software development course. So far the students are working of a web server development project with some very advanced features. While on a trip last week, I managed to swing a deal with a major ISP to purchase all of the wweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/49 Sun, 01 Apr 2007 10:57:14 -0400 Consortium Deal for Assignments Education dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/48 The 2007 Quebec Provincial Election is underway. When I visited two different polling stations this morning and this afternoon, the traffic was very light, but the close election race is supposed to presage a good turnout. Presumably is will appear iweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/48 Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:45:17 -0400 Quebec Election Underway, polls seem empty Miscellaneous dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/46 Natasha is taking part in a physics contest and has won a trip to Israel to participate in the finals. The Shalheveth Freier Physics Tournament is organized by the Weizmann Institute of Science and is based on having students compete in teams to build.. http://www.dudek.org/blog/46 Sun, 25 Mar 2007 16:48:47 -0400 Physics Challenge Education dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/45 I recently decised to the the open source program Audacity on OS X to recoard audio content. It's very complete. If you want to encode to MP3 format, you need the separate lameLib library, to be used with Audacity (it isn't included). Despite documenweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/45 Mon, 19 Mar 2007 21:14:11 -0400 Audacity on OS X Computers and Technology dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/41 There is another initative to track and store data exchange on the Internet (i.e. data retention legislation). This can be circumvented and seems more intrusive than useful. http://www.dudek.org/blog/41 Thu, 15 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0400 Data retention: the issue, the concern and the simple circumvention mechanism (with example). Computers and TechnologyHacksIntellectual Property & Copyright dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/44 This is a list of really useful python modules that are (mostly) not part of the standard library. While I really dislike the poor support for concurrency in Python (and the GIL -- the global interpreter lock -- for threads) which I think makes the lweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/44 Sat, 10 Mar 2007 09:49:09 -0500 Python modules Hacks dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/43 The Computer and Robot Vision (CRV) 2007 will take place in Montreal this summer and the reviewing has just finished. It will be combined with 3 other conferences: The Precarn Conference (Robotics, Intelliegence Systems and ICT industries), Graphics Interface (Computer Graphics and HCI research) and Artificial Intelligence. http://www.dudek.org/blog/43 Wed, 07 Mar 2007 22:11:43 -0500 CRV 2007 - Computer and Robot Vision Computers and TechnologyTravelEducationRoboticsDigital TV and Video dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/42 The Robotics Science and Systems (RSS) conference is on track for Atlanta, GA this summer. It will be adjacent to RoboCup so should be able to attract a range of participants. There had been a chance of attracting it to Montreal, but that would have weofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/42 Mon, 05 Mar 2007 00:04:51 -0500 Robotics Science and Systems on track for Atlanta Computers and TechnologyRobotics dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/40 US Airways cancelled my flight due to mismanagement, treated me badly and gave me a runaround before I could get a refund (which still hasn't appeared). They couldn't have provided worse customer service without using a branding iron. http://www.dudek.org/blog/40 Thu, 01 Mar 2007 22:07:13 -0500 US Airways delivers awful service Travel dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/37 I'll be giving a talk entitled "Underwater and Amphibious Robotics using Vision-Based Robotic Behavior" at the University of Central Florida. http://www.dudek.org/blog/37 Tue, 27 Feb 2007 09:30:00 -0500 UCF seminar Computers and Technology dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/36 The blog is based on the Zope product COREBlog. While COREBlog 1.2.5 (and prior) allow an article to be assigned to multiple categories from the author's perspective, the secodnary categories are not used. This patch fixes that. http://www.dudek.org/blog/36 Thu, 22 Feb 2007 19:26:18 -0500 COREblog patch for multiple categories Hacks dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/35 Due to a flood in our basement, we were forced to do some cleaning up recently. I found an old Next Computer NextStation and also a Next Cube. Getting these to boot NetBSD was fairly easy, but involved a few tricks. http://www.dudek.org/blog/35 Thu, 22 Feb 2007 09:46:41 -0500 NextStation Next Cube Revival Computers and Technology dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/34 2007/Feb/03. Nicholas is part of the S George's School team participating in the CRC Robotics competition called Archemedia 2007. They teams build robot that have to haul 1 foot diameter rings arung an arena and stack them up. St George's came in second. http://www.dudek.org/blog/34 Sat, 17 Feb 2007 08:21:36 -0500 CRC Robotics Competition Archemedia Computers and TechnologyEducationRobotics dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/33 Canada needs to resist the efforts of the IIPA and form it's own policies as an independent country. These IIPA guys are not completely even-handed. Failing that, Canada should simply join the United States. http://www.dudek.org/blog/33 Wed, 14 Feb 2007 22:09:01 -0500 Copyright laws in Canada, GATT and IIPA Computers and TechnologyIntellectual Property & Copyright dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/32 Drive access, repair and removal on a Powerbook G4 (15-inch dual-layer SD) (super drive, aluminum) computer. This is the 15 inch powerbook with a giant spring-loaded screw on the back to release the battery. There are lots of tricky screws. http://www.dudek.org/blog/32 Sun, 11 Feb 2007 15:41:49 -0500 Powerbook G4 aluminum dual-layer SD take apart Computers and Technology dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/30 Today I had lunch with the president of NSERC and a table full of illustrious researchers and administrators from McGill. NSERC is the federal body that funds most academic scientific and engineering research in Canada. Suzanne Fortier began as presiweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/30 Tue, 30 Jan 2007 21:32:05 -0500 NSERC President visits McGill MiscellaneousEducation dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/29 News on the amphibious robot called Ramius. The tests went ahead successfully. We validated some important new hovering and station keeping behaviors. The rate at which we lost fiber optic cables was a bit alarming. http://www.dudek.org/blog/29 Sat, 20 Jan 2007 19:14:49 -0500 Ramius survives, AQUA 1.0 OK, stereo OK too Computers and TechnologyRobotics dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/28 We had the first tests of Ramius, the premiere model of version 2.0 of the aqua robot platform, in the open ocean today. The weather in Barbados has been quite rainy, which is unusual for early January, but not exceptional. As a result, we had two maweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/28 Sun, 14 Jan 2007 18:33:18 -0500 Ramius (Aqua 2 Robot) first ocean tests Computers and TechnologyRobotics dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/27 The Apple iPhone looks very very promising and has a slew of great features. The prospects for availability in Canada are worrisome though. The device seems to live up to much of what people had hoped for and many of the features are really great. In Canada though... there's a problem. http://www.dudek.org/blog/27 Tue, 09 Jan 2007 21:20:21 -0500 Apple iPhone Comments and Observations Computers and Technology dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/26 I recently used Apple Pages, the document editor, to produce a newsletter. Pages is an elegant and easy-to-use program. It made document creation much more pleasant than it would have been in Microsoft Word or LaTex (which I use for scientif documentweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/26 Mon, 08 Jan 2007 18:33:20 -0500 Apple Pages - export to HTML is awful Computers and Technology dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/25 We celebrated a quiet New Year's at the cottage while Natasha was adventuring in India. On New Year's day the temperature was above freezing. Nicholas and Gregory still managed to go skiing, but it was foggy and lots of trails at Mt Garceau were closweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/25 Mon, 01 Jan 2007 19:28:59 -0500 New Year's 2007 Miscellaneous dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/24 Well, Nicholas and Natasha got a Nintendo Wii for Christmas. It really is a very interesting gaming console. The basic console is not that unusual, but the remote unit uses an accelerometer to steer the pointer and there are some games that capitalizweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/24 Wed, 27 Dec 2006 18:38:36 -0500 Wii Computers and Technology dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/23 This past weekend Chris and I went and took the rescue diver's course in Toronto. This combined a "First Emergency Responder's" course on CPR, making splints and suchlike with a course of how to recover non-breathing divers, how to subdue divers in aweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/23 Tue, 19 Dec 2006 00:23:36 -0500 Rescue diver course Miscellaneous dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/22 After several years of successful underwater robotics experiments we had our first case of water leakage into the inside of the robot. As one might expect, it was due to human error -- a miscommunication regarding who was responsible for tightening cweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/22 Thu, 07 Dec 2006 00:12:25 -0500 Bad robot day Computers and TechnologyRobotics dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/21 This is a very technical entry. In recently building a 2.6 linux kernel (2.6.18 specifically) for use with vdr using dvb, I found that vdr delivered poor performance, slow response and generally was unresponsive. This seemed to be fixed, to a large eweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/21 Sun, 26 Nov 2006 21:45:21 -0500 dvb kernel 2.6 and vdr stutters Computers and Technology dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/20 Natasha is working on a Wimshurst machine for a science fair project. I had one as a child myself and apparently talked about it enough for her to somehow remember it fondly. This is a machine for generating static electricity that can be manually poweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/20 Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:10:12 -0500 Wimshurst machine Computers and Technology dudek@cim.mcgill.ca (Gregory B Dudek) http://www.dudek.org/blog/18 Last week Bernhard Beutler and his wife were in town from Germany. We invited them to supper as well as Sonja Scarstead (my father's last published), Pierre DesRuisseaux (translator of Louis Dudek poetry into French) and a few other people. On the whweofije... http://www.dudek.org/blog/18 Mon, 23 Oct 2006 17:18:42 -0400 Dinner with poets Miscellaneous