deeje: Code

Our Brains Cheat During Learning

Sun, 21 Mar 2004 08:55:19 GMT

Roland Piquepaille writes "Researchers have shown that our brains might cheat when learning, switching to 'automatic pilot' mode whenever it's possible. Instead of trying to answer a question by reasoning, our brain explore a catalog of previous answers to similar questions just to save time and avoid thinking. They also made a fascinating discovery. This cheating mechanism also exists in people suffering from amnesia. More details and references are available on my blog including a spectacular image of a cut-away view of the brain taken with the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology used by the researchers to detect regions where brain activity was reduced when performing repetitive tasks, a concept named 'neural priming.'" [Techdirt]

Isn't that called a 'cache'?

GarageBand Feature Requests

Sun, 21 Mar 2004 08:54:35 GMT

I've been using GarageBand for a few weeks now, and I'm really liking it. Here are a few features I'd like to see in GarageBand 2.0:

Takes - each track can have any number of takes. Besides being able to "Create New Take" and select from among existing takes, there would be ways to delete takes, name takes, and convert to/from sections of song. In other words, I record myself playing a riff over and over, cut the track up into sections, and convert each section into a take. Then I can alternate between takes until I find the one I like.
Names - I want to be able to add a name to each track, and to each section of track. GarageBand does a great job of naming things, but I want to also describe how each instrument "feels" in each piece.
Tap Tempo - pick a trigger, any trigger.
Ratings - be able to rate songs, tracks, sections, and takes. Sho/Hide stuff with certain ratings.

What are your GarageBand Feature Requests?

(I wonder if Apple people are reading weblogs?)

Safari Download Icons

Fri, 20 Feb 2004 18:22:32 GMT

A nice touch added to the recent Safari 1.2 update: files being downloaded have icons that display a progress bar in real time.

AV capture device

Wed, 04 Feb 2004 03:25:14 GMT

Steve has been up to visit Jackson twice in the last month or so, and both times, he was able to use his Canon (?) digital camera to capture some hilarious video of Jackson. I'm convinced now that my next camera will be a true Audo/Video capture device, one that takes good stills as well as short video. This device looks interesting for a few reasons:

First, it takes both pictures and video. Second the video is MPEG4. Third, the docking cradle charges the unit as well as provides a permanent link to the computer. Now, if iMovie would simply support importing clips directly from such a device, I'd be set!

PHP Lesson: is_int() vs. is_numeric()

Thu, 29 Jan 2004 22:57:13 GMT

This one is for Steve:

Note to anyone else who might do the dumb thing I did. When you're handling GET/POST input in PHP and wan to know if a value is numeric, don't use is_int() because it'll lie to you. What you want is is_numeric(). Of course, the is_int() documentation specifically warns you about this, but it doesn't do much good if you read right past it. I was *this* close to walking over to Rasmus or Andrei and asking for a sanity check,... [Jeremy Zawodny's blog]

GarageBand and multiple iTunes Music Library files

Tue, 27 Jan 2004 17:47:01 GMT

I was playing around with GarageBand last night, the first time I've had a chance to see what all the excitement is about. In short, it is very cool. I'll post more about it as I go, including some songs I've had in my head for a while that I'm eager to get out.

But first, I wanted to share a disconcerting experience. After I made my first song, I selected the menu item "Export to iTunes". A dialog appears saying, "File not found", then the export proceeded. When iTunes launched, my entire catalog was missing, and the new song was the only song available. Ack!

Well, turns out that, like Mac OS X itself, iTunes looks in several places for its library information. Mine has always been stored in my ~/Documents/iTunes directory, but GarageBand saw fit to make a new one at ~/Music/iTunes, and iTunes sees that folder before it sees the other one. By deleting the folder created by GarageBand and relaunching iTunes, I was able to recover my entire catalog (as well as all my playcounts and other stats).

I remember reading someone's weblog yesterday about this very issue, but of course I can't remember who it was. I'm hoping this post finds you...

garage band tennis, anyone?

Tue, 27 Jan 2004 04:52:33 GMT

Well, it’d be challenging from a logistical standpoint if you’re recording a lot of live instruments, but.. I could see this being a really neat way to collaborate with someone on music. It basically makes you break down all your sound sources into loops, so.. use anything you want, (logic, cubase, any VST or AU effect or instrument, reason, anything) just make some loops or a live recording, and we’re on the same playing field.
[my weblog]

There was a company called Rocket Networks, which created real-time music collaboration technology like your describe. Many of the pro music tools incorporated support for Rocket. Then in April 2003, Avid bought Rocket. The old domain name is gone, and I haven't investigated further.

So, if we're dreaming out loud, how about integrating iChat with GarageBand?

iChat Emotimaker 1.0

Wed, 21 Jan 2004 03:17:49 GMT

About iChat Emotimaker
Designed to allow you to use custom sets of smilies with iChat! It allows simple creation, editing, saving, and installing of smileypacks directly into iChat. All you do is create a new file, type in a name and ASCII representation for each smiley, and then simply drag and drop the images you want for your smilies into iChat Emotimaker. Nothing could be easier. [Mac OS X Downloads]

Great! Now this needs to support the iSight, so that I can make a set of emoticons based on eme :-)

Powers of 10 and the Universal View

Mon, 19 Jan 2004 22:54:35 GMT

Interesting Java applet that shows you a view of the universe at scales ranging from 10 ^ 23 (10 million light years) to 10 ^ -16 (100 attometers).

Patenting reincarnation

Fri, 16 Jan 2004 22:50:06 GMT

Patently absurd!

In the Pipeline finds fault with the US patent system: And Now for Something Completely Different

It's taken a team effort for things to come to this. Patent applicants have to write crummy applications; the patent office then does its part by granting way too many of them. And that leads up to this latest bolt of inspiration, whose examination by the PTO I would pay to witness. Prepare yourselves for US application 200400055535: "Process of Reincarnation."

The patent is really bad, which is all part of the fun:

Abstract: The invention consists of the process of reincarnation or rebirth resulting in immortality.
Description: [0001] This invention resulted from my combining Einstein's Theory of Relativity and Newton's Second Law of Physics.
[0002] Reincarnation is defined in Webster's Third New Inernational Dictionary as "rebith". Thus my invention is a process of rebirth or in other words immortality.

[Knowledge Jolt with Jack]