Category Archives: Tech

Technology in general

TIA reborn?

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Data on Americans mined for terror risk – U.S. Security – MSNBC.com

If you remember DARPA’s Total Information Awareness program, the FBI’s “STAR” program (System to Assess Risk) should look familiar. An article in the August 2004 edition of Federal Computing Week has some details on the short lived TIA program and what brought about its demise in case you don’t remember. The STAR program looks like TIA with a new name and it should be shutdown for the very same reasons. Some of the reasons are spelled out in the MSNBC story linked above. Even if the information came only from government or just law enforcement sources, quality would still be an issue. When you put commercial databases, which are rife with bad data into the mix, as the old saying goes: garbage in, garbage out.

Decision a catch 22 for domestic spying case

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Court throws out spying lawsuit – Politics – MSNBC.com

An appellate court has essentially thrown out the case brought by the ACLU against the federal government for warrantless spying on American citizens. Not surprisingly the decision was split down party lines with the Republican majority voting to deny the case on the grounds that the plaintiffs had no evidence that they had been spied on. (since the program and any information related to it are secret, there is no way to know for certain who has been spied on) The fact that it was thrown out on those grounds leaves the question of legality open for a future court to decide. The ACLU expressed their disappointment with the decision in a press release, but did not specify whether or not they would pursue the case.

Digital Cinema is a beautiful thing

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I can’t believe I’ve seen 2 movies in one week! My brother is in town for a visit and we decided to go see Transformers last night at the new Regal Cinema in Summerville. As we were walking in he told me that this was going to be shown on a digital projector and my heart sank. I was curious, but not optimistic.

I tend to be a bit of an A/V snob. If the sound isn’t right or the picture is less than perfect, which it often is at the local theaters, (how hard is it to make sure the projectors are focused?) it takes away from the overall experience. I have to say I was unexpectedly impressed by the image quality. Transformers is visually stunning and the digital projection seemed to let it shine.

For most people, if they didn’t look at the ticket they probably wouldn’t have known they weren’t watching film. I would equate it to going to the best theater in town on release night. Not only was the picture clean and crisp, it was brighter and seemed to have more color depth. (though that could have been more to do with the particular movie…) The only thing I noticed that gave away the secret was an interference pattern that was apparent on the left side of the screen, almost like ripples. It was hardly noticable, but seemed to be a DLP artifact.

Transformers itself was amazing for this fan of the animated series. I found that while the movie looked and felt quite different, the characters & their motives were still basically the same. It made me want to go back and watch some of the old series again. I really hope there is a sequel to this movie. If the post credit scene is any indication, I’d say there’s at least a chance.