As I write, artificial intelligence (AI) teams are gathering in Brighton for the 2009 Loebner Prize Contest. This is where chatbots – programs that simulate conversation – compete to pass the Turing Test, convincing a panel of human beings that they’re talking to a real person. Despite the incentive of $100,000, no system has actually won so far, though presumably they all have tearful acceptance speech modules just in case. continue
Showing all entries tagged ‘MacUser’
I’m sorry, Dave, I can’t do that
on 25 September 2009
Type: A Visual History
on 11 September 2009
It says something about the value for money of today’s coffee-table books that 35 quid looks relatively expensive. For this, though, you get a volume – the first in a set of two, divided chronologically – that, with the addition of four legs, could actually be a coffee table. continue reading at www.macuser.co.uk
Tabling amendments
on 4 September 2009
A common layout requirement is to create a table based on an imported Excel spreadsheet but styled to match the rest of a publication. What’s especially annoying is to get a table finished only to find the supplied data has changed. This can be avoided by maintaining a link between the original Excel file and your Quark or InDesign document. Read the full article in MacUser Vol 25 No 18, on sale now.
People are not blank slates, and we can’t hack their sense of right and wrong
on 4 September 2009
First it was computers, then mobile phones. Now hackers have found a way to compromise keyboards. What’s going to be the next cyber-security threat? Biscuits? continue
Mastering mastering
on 14 August 2009
InDesign’s nested master pages provide a uniquely powerful way to construct longer documents. By basing one master spread on another, you can build up a set of masters without duplicating effort, from a ‘top and tail’ containing just navigation slugs, folios and guides to complete templates for each section of a publication. Read the full article in MacUser Vol 25 No 17, on sale now.
Carry on up the charts
on 31 July 2009
For layout artists, the bane of corporate reports and technical reviews is the presentation of data. But most graphs aren’t complicated to create, so why spend time fiddling with Excel when you can draw them far more elegantly yourself? Read the full article in MacUser Vol 25 No 16, on sale now.
If the solution to illegal downloading is ‘delivering fantastic legal services’, are all those tanks on lawns just delivery vehicles?
on 31 July 2009
So Stephen Fry has admitted to downloading the series finale of House over BitTorrent because it was quicker than finding a legal copy. Lord Stephen of Twitter made his confession during July’s iTunes Festival, where he criticised the entertainment business for suing file sharers, saying that ‘making an example of ordinary people is the stupidest thing the record industry can do’. The industry appears to agree, because it’s stopped doing it, just as the British government – trying to appease the industry’s previous stance – proposes formalising the process. The currently favoured alternative, threatening to cut off users’ connections if they’re deemed to be sharing files illegally, has just been ruled unconstitutional in France, the country most gung-ho about implementing it. It’s all getting harder to follow than an episode of House. continue
Photo effects in iPhoto and Picasa
on 3 July 2009
Cool photo treatments aren’t the exclusive preserve of Photoshop users. Find out how to create effects including lomography, aged film and tilt-shift using only iPhoto or Google’s free Picasa. Read the full article in MacUser Vol 25 No 14, on sale now.
For a book about words, this is surprisingly visual, beautifully laid out on a matt stock, with nice use of background tints and neat, legible type. What’s great about Shaw’s introduction to copywriting is that he explains the real world processes, not just the principles. continue reading at www.macuser.co.uk
I’m all about the iPhone 2010
on 3 July 2009
Thank goodness for the iPhone 3GS. It’s a marvellous boon to productivity, not because I’m using it, but because now that it’s come out I can stop reading all the rumours about what’s going to be in it. continue
adambanksdotcom @gbarl Bah, missed your Watchdog. Do they do it on iPlayer?