Currently geeking...

01 Jul 2005, 16:15

Origami Yoda

timsinister · 01 Jul 2005, 16:44

Geek Obsession leads to the Dark Side...and you sir, are closer to Sith than I've ever seen.

Currently IRCing, myself. It might look like a second-hand dog's dinner, but it is a laugh.

eastmidswhizzkid · 01 Jul 2005, 18:36

markfiend wrote:Origami Yoda

apparently theres a new sattelite channel on origami...but its only available as "paper- view"

James Blast · 01 Jul 2005, 19:05

that plumbs a new depth of sadness, mf wake up!

Brideoffrankenstein · 01 Jul 2005, 19:11

I think it's rather good!

lazarus corporation · 02 Jul 2005, 09:10

Burglars beware, robot guards are here. In an idea straight out of science fiction, robots could soon begin patrolling Japanese offices, shopping malls and banks to keep them safe from intruders.

Equipped with a camera and sensors, the Guardrobo D1, developed by Japanese security firm Sohgo Security Services Co, is designed to patrol along pre-programmed paths and keep an eye out for signs of trouble.

The 109cm tall robot will alert human guards via radio and by sending camera footage if it detects intruders, fires, or even water leaks.

full article here (note: that page may be slashdotted)

canon docre · 02 Jul 2005, 09:27

Nice bloke, Laz.

Whoever was bewildered by my Star Wars memorabilia, should see my gathering of fine Robots...

..and yes, I have a collection of assorted Monsters too.

timsinister · 02 Jul 2005, 18:35

lazarus corporation wrote: full article here (note: that page may be slashdotted)

Christ; how long before we end up with fifteen seconds to comply?

29 Sep 2005, 10:57

I've downloaded the trial version* of Macromedia Director to reacquaint myself with it, and as a little warm-up I've managed to create a passable version of Solitaire.

Mac OSX version (1.68 MB)
PeeCee version (1.74 MB)

* And accidentally stumbled upon the serial number online to upgrade it to the full version

timsinister · 29 Sep 2005, 11:08

markfiend wrote:And accidentally stumbled upon the serial number online to upgrade it to the full version [/size]

"Accidentally"?

You wouldn't dream of doing anything...naughty, would you Mr. Moderator?

boudicca · 29 Sep 2005, 11:14

eastmidswhizzkid wrote:
markfiend wrote:Origami Yoda

apparently theres a new sattelite channel on origami...but its only available as "paper- view"

*tumbleweed*

lazarus corporation · 29 Sep 2005, 11:24

markfiend wrote:I've downloaded the trial version* of Macromedia Director to reacquaint myself with it, and as a little warm-up I've managed to create a passable version of Solitaire.

Mac OSX version (1.68 MB)
PeeCee version (1.74 MB)

* And accidentally stumbled upon the serial number online to upgrade it to the full version

By a strange coincidence, today I've been installing Flash 8 Professional on all my work computers so I can make the evil, inaccessible, huge-file-sized, pointless interactive widgets that my TPTB have spotted on other websites and want for our sites.

29 Sep 2005, 11:37

Not a fan I take it?

lazarus corporation · 29 Sep 2005, 11:48

markfiend wrote:Not a fan I take it?

Flash has its uses, but you have to be very careful not to produce something which can land you (or rather, the company you work for) with a fine of over Â£10,000 for breaching the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

Small embedded (and accessible) pieces of Flash can be useful (especially for streaming video).

Whole websites created from Flash are a loathsome abomination, and their creators deserve to die slowly and painfully.

29 Sep 2005, 12:03

if anyone knows how to take an 3 minute avi, posterize each frame or whatever so its 2-colour, and export it as a streaming flash movie, complete with audio, that would be very cool...

if anyone can then wrap said swf as a screensaver for pc and mac, that would be even better.

been wanting to convert some ghostdance video footage into a 2-colour/heavily-fx-treated screensaver for some time

29 Sep 2005, 12:07

now think about it, the look i wanted would actually be quite like the james ray avatar i have at the moment!

<--------

29 Sep 2005, 12:14

lazarus corporation wrote:Flash has its uses, but you have to be very careful not to produce something which can land you (or rather, the company you work for) with a fine of over Â£10,000 for breaching the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

Scary! Why?

lazarus corporation wrote:Small embedded (and accessible) pieces of Flash can be useful (especially for streaming video).

Whole websites created from Flash are a loathsome abomination, and their creators deserve to die slowly and painfully.

I agree with you on those two

lazarus corporation · 29 Sep 2005, 12:42

markfiend wrote:
lazarus corporation wrote:Flash has its uses, but you have to be very careful not to produce something which can land you (or rather, the company you work for) with a fine of over Â£10,000 for breaching the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
Scary! Why?

Because the 1995 DDA (section 19, I think) states that websites must not discriminate against disabled users.

99% of Flash is inaccessible (can't be read by screen-reader software, relies on the use of a mouse and can't be controlled using a keyboard (tab-stops etc)) and so discriminates against disabled users.

More recent versions of Flash have the option to add accessibility features but you have to (1) choose to add them and (2) know how to add them.

And because this is anti-discrimination legislation rather than accessibility legislation, you can be sued separately by each person you discriminate against.

29 Sep 2005, 13:09

Blimey!

Batfish · 29 Sep 2005, 13:12

lazarus corporation wrote:
markfiend wrote:
lazarus corporation wrote:Flash has its uses, but you have to be very careful not to produce something which can land you (or rather, the company you work for) with a fine of over Â£10,000 for breaching the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
Scary! Why?
Because the 1995 DDA (section 19, I think) states that websites must not discriminate against disabled users.

99% of Flash is inaccessible (can't be read by screen-reader software, relies on the use of a mouse and can't be controlled using a keyboard (tab-stops etc)) and so discriminates against disabled users.

More recent versions of Flash have the option to add accessibility features but you have to (1) choose to add them and (2) know how to add them.

And because this is anti-discrimination legislation rather than accessibility legislation, you can be sued separately by each person you discriminate against.

I work for this lot. What he says is true:
http://www.drc.org.uk/publicationsandreports/report.asp

lazarus corporation · 29 Sep 2005, 13:52

Having said all that, one of the biggest (and most frequently unrecognised) obstacles to web accessibility is the quality of existing screen-reader software, which is invariably p*ss-poor compared to the quality of other types of software.

Batfish · 29 Sep 2005, 13:57

Absolutely. I think the quality of accessibility software has only really been any good in the last few years, and the benefits of website accessibility for the general user seems to have meant that the 'business case' for making sites accessible seems to be getting through. One of our techy blokes wrote a bit for the Guardian on this, which is probably on their site somewhere.

nigel d · 30 Sep 2005, 08:52

im a radio amateur and i geek radio gubbins all the time ............(gets coat.........and portable radio set , antenna , power supply and walks to nearest hiltop to compete in "summits on the air"(its real))

recent program on radio 4 about web site accessability, hosted by peter white , very interesting. i imagine for web designers /hosters it must a bit of a head ache.comments were made regards screen readers too.

lazarus corporation · 30 Sep 2005, 10:09

I'm a web developer and web accessibility is one of my specialities.

Initially, making accessible websites is a bit of a pain because it involves learning new things and thinking in different ways, and we humans always find that a challenge.

However, I now (hand-code) websites to a minimum of Bobby AA standard without even thinking about accessibility because it's inherent in the way I code.

lazarus corporation · 03 Oct 2005, 13:37

currently geeking...

various drupal modules