Product Name/bin/software An optional compilation of embedded device code.
Product Name/bin/fabrication An optional translation of the design files into CNC code such as G-Code or SBP code. Some CNC type code is more efficient than others - so there is value in being able to distribute ‘binary’ versions of the cutting or disposition instructions.
Product Name/src/software Source code for embedded devices.
Product Name/src/design_files The design files for the product.
This is to account for products that have a software component. Imagine you were specifying an Arduino powered device such as this ‘game boy‘.
A question I have been asking myself over the weekend is whether or not you’d ever see products shared across the web in the same way as MP3s. If so, what sort of file format would you need? I have come to the conclusion (and it might because I have typed ‘make’, ‘make install’ once to many times) that a product file will probably look a lot like a software application - rather than being a single file it will be a directory structure that contains a package of things that you would need. A product needs a bunch of info. For example:
Design files
Bill of Materials (x N)
Assembly docs
Instruction manuals
So for any sensible product description you’re looking at a range of files - it doesn’t make too much sense to try and jam that into one file.
So as a first cut I think a product package might be a tar.gz file containing:
Product Name/bin An optional translation of the design files into CNC code such as G-Code or SBP code. Some CNC type code is more efficient than others - so there is value in being able to distribute ‘binary’ versions of the cutting or disposition instructions.
Product Name/bom A set of structures (like yaml or xml) that list the materials required for the product. This would include both the materials from which the product was cut or deposited and other items like electronics.
Product Name/src The design files for the product.
Product Name/tmp A temp directory that is used by parsing software - included to keep things tidy. The contents aren’t guaranteed to exist over time.
Product Name/usr/assembly Assembly instructions for the product.
Product Name/usr/make Other manufacturing instructions for the product.
Product Name/usr/use Usage instructions for the product.
So MIT announced some kick ass new catalysts for making electrolysis more efficient… which is cool from a fuel production point of view. But what i wonder is whether or not we can use the O2 part of the equation to make artificial gills? Maybe creating a honey comb of the catalyst… your time under water would then be limited by your battery. I suspect a tank of compressed air is probably a more efficient way of spending an hour under the waves. But actually swimming like a fish, that’d be cool.
Listening to: EXPOSÉ on the Journal: Chemicals in Food and Jeffrey Toobin - Bill Moyers Journal
Here you go… It’s a gnat’s fart away from Spook Country - you’ve just gotta replace the ubiquitous Google Maps with you’re own massive data overlay system.
Type geeks are a special breed… may be that was the inspiration for The Typosperma Project:
The main idea of the ‘Typosperma’ project was to create some sort of new transgenic creatures, half (human) sperm, half letter. These imaginary creatures are cloned sperms, that typographic information has been implanted into their DNA.
A little while back I linked to an article about space flight being a solution looking for a problem.
Last week, in a moment of procrastination, I watched the interview with Aaron Russo. Russo’s latest project is a movie called America - Freedom to Fascism… a movie about the IRS and various topics that have sat on the fringes of the conspiracy culture. I honestly don’t know enough about the topics he’s talking about to really hold an educated opinion, but he represented a glimmer of a problem that might be the tractor app for space flight.
Russo brings to light a disturbing level of dissatisfaction amongst a group of people in society. Generally, dissatisfied groups go through a series of steps to try and address the problems they have identified. Over time they succeed or they don’t. Certain groups reach a point where they decide that remaining in the society is not worth the effort and that it is best that they start their own society. The real extremists realize that the best way for humans to conquer the unknown is by creating a “no return” scenario. The human race has a history of that sort of behavior.
In a world where sovereignty has been well established (i.e. there is no longer a place that you can truly carve out a new land) and it’s pretty much impossible to unhook yourself from society completely… the only real option is to pack your bags and head over the horizon. The next horizon sits at the top of the gravity well and Space, beyond a certain point, represents the best “no return” scenario.
It’s amusing to speculate about a leftist leader who provides launch facilities from his oil rich nation close to the equator. A group of wealthy “pioneers” create their own launch vehicles based on commercial vehicles built to meet the needs of an aging NASA and a sustaining tourism market and escape to live on the new frontier.
I found this link over at Tommi’s
S60 applications blog. Given the barcode
generator is free… it does open up a world of opportunity. Imagine graffiti
with 2D barcodes embedded in it, linking the art to some sort of online compnent…
a whole new world of urban art.
Had an odd thought today, one that was arguably publishable. I wonder if you could use the Segway platform as a luggage trolley? Instead of having a place to stand it would have a luggage basket. You could carry a little transmitter (or a tether) and the thing could follow you ’round the airport (fido luggage style). It would also be able to follow you up escalators and what not… Given my experience with Rods Segway the motor system reacts fast enough that it could follow you quite closely without bumping into you.
Someone must be doing it (’specially if they’re pitching it against golf carts.).
I went to see The
Jacket this evening. All in all it was enjoyable… But I have come to the conclusion
that AI researchers are going to be horribly disappointed when they finally reach
their goal. I have the feeling that they are not going to be greeted by the booming
voice of god, but rather a vaguely neurotic tone.
My argument is based on the observation that any sufficiently bright mind that is
given unlimited free time (ie. it doesn’t have to hunt and gather) will a) turn to
religion b) have children or try and create something like a child (a company for
instance) or c) collapse in on itself. Now we all hope that “b” is the goal but I
have sneaky suspicion that at least for the first 4 versions we’re going to have versions
of “c” on our hands.
UPDATE: “a” is not an option as it requires (largely) a God shaped hole that is made
of the “who made me?” and “what am i doing here?” type questions. If you know
your creator is Larry then
most of the religion itches should go away.
