Oddments
Brad DeLong mentions My Life as a Quant in response to an Unfogged post by Alamedia regarding "Chets." The book looks interesting, so I'm noting it here.
A three-piece jazz band played brunch the other day, and I found myself wrestling with the seemingly needless awkwardness of the bass and wondering if anyone has built a less bulky electronic version with a built-in speaker (as opposed to an electric bass guitar connected to an amp and speaker system). I envisioned a stem with strings attached to a thin speaker with ample surface area to emit roughly the same low frequency vibrations as an analog bass.
The new microwave at work had so many buttons and options emblazoned into a tapestry of information overload that I could only shrug and wonder if I'd try to sort out something that complicated if I were studying for a bar exam and my life depended on it. There appeared to be a button for every possible thing one might want to cook, except I'm sure my option will be missing the first time I try to use it for anything other than warming up my coffee.
The new microwave's U/I visual cacophony prompted me to wonder how well one could guess the cook time with a few sensors to analyze weight (even thought it might include a light or hefty container), infra-red radiation, maybe some sort of sonic imaging to estimate hardness. Can something be done? Sounds like an interesting problem: a smarter microwave oven. If not, I'd just prefer a couple of dials to specify power level and time. Dials are quicker and easier than keypads, if they hit the right stops.
Scoble posts about the NYT and charging for content. As far as it all goes, I'm really amazed no one's managed to work out a serious micropayment solution yet. In this respect, World 2005 is quite different from my World 2000 expectations. I expected major companies to be wrestling vigorously over the crown of micropayment kingpin. Amazon has everyone's credit card number, and I'm amazed they haven't carpeted the online world with a winning solution. I'd much prefer to pay a quarter for a full day's worth of access to any subscription fees, a system analogous to picking up a copy at the local convenience store.
Still rather engrossed in unlimited music. I've found that even though some songs are unavailable for download, they're still available on Y!'s radio stations. If you really want to hear something, the last resort is the fan station. A feature I haven't found yet that I feel is sorely needed is a CD/album preview option. The ability to listen to 1,000,000 songs puts me in a position in which I'd like to sample discs. And I do sample discs, but the only means I've found is to listen for 30 seconds and press the Next button for each track. I wish there were an automatic means of doing this with a configurable max number of seconds per track.
I'm baby steppin' and catching up on what was heretofore musical periphery. Given that and no personal claims above musical cluelessness, here are some discs that pique my curiosity: Donovan Frankenreiter (similar to Jack Johnson), Gemma Hayes - Night On My Side, Red House Painters - Songs for a Blue Guitar, Kings of Convenience - Riot on an Empty Street (I really like "Misread"), Nick Drake - Bryter Layter, Sondre Lerche - Two Way Monologue.
Backtracking a couple paragraphs, my reflections on micropayments made me think of another prediction I made to myself that hasn't come true to any extent I've noticed. A few years ago, I guessed evolutionary algorithms would be prominent in web development software by now. A huge proportion of web sites are all about making sales. There's an obvious optimization problem there that immediately leaves me wondering if Website A' is more effective than Website A. With a mutation here and a mutation there and a little statistical analysis, one could get a good idea if Website A' is a more effective seller than Website A. Websites that evolve to maximize sales. Anyone?
A three-piece jazz band played brunch the other day, and I found myself wrestling with the seemingly needless awkwardness of the bass and wondering if anyone has built a less bulky electronic version with a built-in speaker (as opposed to an electric bass guitar connected to an amp and speaker system). I envisioned a stem with strings attached to a thin speaker with ample surface area to emit roughly the same low frequency vibrations as an analog bass.
The new microwave at work had so many buttons and options emblazoned into a tapestry of information overload that I could only shrug and wonder if I'd try to sort out something that complicated if I were studying for a bar exam and my life depended on it. There appeared to be a button for every possible thing one might want to cook, except I'm sure my option will be missing the first time I try to use it for anything other than warming up my coffee.
The new microwave's U/I visual cacophony prompted me to wonder how well one could guess the cook time with a few sensors to analyze weight (even thought it might include a light or hefty container), infra-red radiation, maybe some sort of sonic imaging to estimate hardness. Can something be done? Sounds like an interesting problem: a smarter microwave oven. If not, I'd just prefer a couple of dials to specify power level and time. Dials are quicker and easier than keypads, if they hit the right stops.
Scoble posts about the NYT and charging for content. As far as it all goes, I'm really amazed no one's managed to work out a serious micropayment solution yet. In this respect, World 2005 is quite different from my World 2000 expectations. I expected major companies to be wrestling vigorously over the crown of micropayment kingpin. Amazon has everyone's credit card number, and I'm amazed they haven't carpeted the online world with a winning solution. I'd much prefer to pay a quarter for a full day's worth of access to any subscription fees, a system analogous to picking up a copy at the local convenience store.
Still rather engrossed in unlimited music. I've found that even though some songs are unavailable for download, they're still available on Y!'s radio stations. If you really want to hear something, the last resort is the fan station. A feature I haven't found yet that I feel is sorely needed is a CD/album preview option. The ability to listen to 1,000,000 songs puts me in a position in which I'd like to sample discs. And I do sample discs, but the only means I've found is to listen for 30 seconds and press the Next button for each track. I wish there were an automatic means of doing this with a configurable max number of seconds per track.
I'm baby steppin' and catching up on what was heretofore musical periphery. Given that and no personal claims above musical cluelessness, here are some discs that pique my curiosity: Donovan Frankenreiter (similar to Jack Johnson), Gemma Hayes - Night On My Side, Red House Painters - Songs for a Blue Guitar, Kings of Convenience - Riot on an Empty Street (I really like "Misread"), Nick Drake - Bryter Layter, Sondre Lerche - Two Way Monologue.
Backtracking a couple paragraphs, my reflections on micropayments made me think of another prediction I made to myself that hasn't come true to any extent I've noticed. A few years ago, I guessed evolutionary algorithms would be prominent in web development software by now. A huge proportion of web sites are all about making sales. There's an obvious optimization problem there that immediately leaves me wondering if Website A' is more effective than Website A. With a mutation here and a mutation there and a little statistical analysis, one could get a good idea if Website A' is a more effective seller than Website A. Websites that evolve to maximize sales. Anyone?
posted by metamerist at
8:05 PM
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