Appearance Models (AM) and Active Appearance Models (AAM) are well-established techniques, which can be used to model objects, synthesise images and interpreting images. You can see visual examples (videos) of Appearance Models, Active Appearance Models, and their use in Tracking at the Web site of their primary inventor, Dr. Tim Cootes. His site also offers excellent software for non-commercial use (see screen-shot below).

As the day which celebrates love returns, one wonders if alterations are made to the way love is perceived. Technology and other advancements have promoted gaps between individuals and resulted in greater seclusion. Will on-line dating services become the stream for couples to bond? Will love be associated with nothing beyond status and greed? What is for certain is that love lives on.
 
Happy Valentine’s, everybody.

Selection of a film that suits you best can be difficult task. It is also a very time-consuming one. The Internet simplifies it greatly.

Firstly, many reviews need be collated and summarised. MetaCritic does exactly that. I have used it exclusively for years.

Secondly, a cinema and show times must be discovered effectively. Use a bookmark (favourites) or a portal to quickly navigate to the listing (programme) of each local cinema. Once you enter the listing, run a search (Edit > Find in most browser) for the film’s title.

A self-tailored films portal

The Cell processor is shown on the right (image from AP via the BBC). Chips of similar scale can hold gigabytes of storage space.

Will the entire human knowledge fit in a matchbox one day?

One of the notable pioneers of modern computing and mathematics died in February 8th 48 years ago. I found writings relating to his death quite mystifying:

… his mind, the amulet on which he had always been able to rely, was becoming less dependable. Then came complete psychological breakdown; panic, screams of uncontrollable terror every night. His friend Edward Teller said, “I think that von Neumann suffered more when his mind would no longer function, than I have ever seen any human being suffer.”

Von Neumann’s sense of invulnerability, or simply the desire to live, was struggling with unalterable facts. He seemed to have a great fear of death until the last… No achievements and no amount of influence could save him now, as they always had in the past. Johnny von Neumann, who knew how to live so fully, did not know how to die.

As already said, if you are not familiar with syndication and aggregators, now is a good time to discover them. Information will reach you, rather than being looked for.

There is an excellent index of RSS services from all over the world. It can help you become almost hyper-text-independent. All information that is of interest to you will be aggregated. This is probably the next generation of Web exploration.

Albert Nurick from comp.sys.palmtops writes:

In an article with a slightly inaccurate headline, MSNBC carries the AP story about declining PDA sales.

Reading the story reveals some interesting details.

PalmOne’s shipments are down 9% to 3.7 million, from 4 million in 2003.

Sony’s dropped to 419,000 from 1.4 million. (Sony pulled out of the US market)

A very interesting note at the bottom:

“Shipments from other leading PDA makers, such as Hewlett-Packard Co., Dell Inc. and Medion AG, increased, but not enough to offset the overall market’s downward spiral.”

“Those three companies all make PDAs that run Microsoft operating systems.”

So it appears that PalmOS sales are down, and Pocket PC sales are up; that wouldn’t have been as good of a headline, though.

Read it all: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6906812/

Cited by: PalmAddict