borg.org

Category: Tech

  • An Idea for Doing Background Removal from a Sequence of Stationary Images, Manual-Style [Updated]

    Update: Finally looking at implementing this and I realize that thinking of that fully populated tree is probably good for understanding it, I don’t need to store anything but the left edge. When a new frame comes in, I will calculate a new left edge based on the new frame and the previous left edge. […]

  • Which Gadgets Do I Need, Again

    Four-years ago I asked the question “What gadgets do I need?”, and it seemed time to revisit the question. First, what gadgets do I have? Pebble Watch This is my most-present gadget these days. I like that it is limited, it is too small a screen to offer a rich experience, and it is too […]

  • Pebble Battery Life

    I decided that, cool as the shake-to-light feature is on the Pebble watch, I turned it off. Saves battery life. And, frankly, it can be annoying if one sleeps with a watch or is in a movie theater. But I don’t know how long my year-plus-old watch lasts in this setting because I have taken […]

  • Net Neutrality: An Objective Definition (with Technical Gotchas)

    I saw someone on Twitter looking for a definition of net neutrality that was objective, and doubting it was possible. Here is my attempt, and I am going to maybe cheat a little by trying to give two perspectives. Disclaimer: I am for net neutrality. The Case For Everything seems to run over the internet […]

  • New "Pebble Time" Watch Announced

    It looks good. They still seem to understand what a watch is, that it is not a smartphone. They added color, but a low-power version of color. The competition has set themselves up to compete with the brightness of the sun if we were ever to venture outside. Pebble is still avoiding that losing battle. […]

  • Merkel's Telephone: How Secure Does She WANT it to be?

    The news that the NSA has been listening in on German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone had me wondering, as a techie who has paid some attention to computer security, how would I recommend the Germans secure her phone?  It is an interesting puzzle to think through.  And part of my approach would involve other European […]

  • Associated Press and Passwords

    Dear AP, Today you tweeted that there were two explosions in the White House and Obama was injured. It seems you didn’t intend to do so. Someone else broke into your Twitter account. In other words, someone else had your password. Jeeze, it isn’t that complicated: Make up a password, with some random stuff in […]

  • Finally, my Picturephone, so cool! And ho-hum.

    I am a child of the future.  When I was young the future was going to be great! In fact every few years they held World’s Fairs to tell us about the future (and show us quaint glimpses of distant peoples and big corporations). One of the perennial staples of this future was the Picturephone. […]

  • Google's Project Glass: Dies at the Hands of a Smart Watch?

    As I am trying to understand Google’s Project Glass, yesterday I did something disturbing. As I was leaving work, wondering what temperature I would find as I left the building, I started to look at my watch. Uh, oh: A “smart watch” might take important wind out of the sails of Project Glass’s acceptance. Usually […]

  • Understanding Google Glass

    Excited by Google Glass, I have been looking for some good analysis on the internet on what it means. Lots of people are willing to say “The possibilities are endless!”, but I am looking for more subtlety than that. I guess I have to write my own analysis. This is a start at that effort. […]