bkil vs. programming

If you connect this modem to a machine running Ubuntu, it mounts and opens the virtual driver disk. If you unmount the partition, usb_modeswitch automatically kicks in and switches the device from CD-ROM emulation to modem mode. Unfortunately, Network Manager would not connect regardless of configuration. However, after some trial and error, wvdial was able to establish connection and start transferring data. After reducing the unknowns, I've devised a small script which waits until the drive gets automatically mounted, unmounts the device, waits for settling and then establishes a connection with wvdial. This script was hooked up to a specific device addition udev rule to make it run automagically. As the devised udev rule did not narrow down the event good enough, actually two such invocations are done for each insertion, so a bit of an ugly hacking was involved to implement mutual exclusion.

They have conducted the following interesting experiment. Electrodes were placed on the skin of a subject at the neck. Then a specially trained person imitated a phone call without sounding an utterance or even moving his lips! They say, when "articulating" text in one's mind, the nerves relevant to speech are activated similarly to when reading the text aloud. They have achieved fair decoding accuracy from these signals. There could exist many use cases for an interface built around these findings. On top of all previously known applications for speech recognition, those could also be realized which were inappropriate at certain locations because of the noise induced by speech. Imagine the workplace perspective of talking on the phone without opening your lips or making any sound, all with the speed of speech! Too bad it has such a low speed in practise today. I wonder how far they can push it. You can also view a video demonstration at the original article: Nerve-tappin...

Well, what do you know, it looks like history does repeat itself: Eee Keyboard splayed, detailed by FCC (Engadget) Trends Are Cyclical: the Asus Eee Keyboard (OSNews) ASUS Eee Keyboard (Wikipedia)

This is one of the assembly programs I could be kind of proud of. It's composed of a heap load of macros and is built up in an almost completely neat, high-level hierarchical structure. I could post some snippets if anyone is interested. After making it build, it needed very few compile and test cycles despite the fact that I haven't programmed such a platform in years. I can recall one real, non-trivial defect that needed a second thought. It took some time of analyzing the (soundcard-based!) scope data to arrive at the conclusion that the embedded table contained inverted data (or something similar). Thus, actually the shell script was in (logical) error that generated the data table. After this correction, all three outputs of the device were verified to generate perfectly shaped (unfiltered) sine waves. This was a nice feat, as the generation of the three outputs were implemented in an unintuitively tangled way in order to maximize output resolution.

The backlight is out, what am I going to do now?! Nah, actually I would only be in trouble if it wasn't a sunlight readable, electroluminescent transflective FSTN LCD! :-) You see, my current usage pattern involved less than 1% of backlight use, and in almost all cases it was more of a convenience than a necessity. It is, however, a sign of deterioration of the flexible cable, so I am getting a bit worried. I am prepared for all possibilities.

I've uploaded a preliminary version of my interests to the Wikipedia user page of bkil . I'll keep you posted if I find something else interesting, but you could also follow the logs. Your suggestions are welcome!