Berlin Brown and Software Development

I don't know if it is because I am getting older but I am starting to record my thoughts online or digitally so that I can easily go back to that record. I do this by posting blog posts on blogspot and through other subversion code repositories. One task that I have long neglected is creating a list of common developer tools. The toolkit suite contains a list of common software applications that a developer of any language or environment would need. Most of the software is open source of freely available. Obviously, different developers want or need different tools. Here is the list of packages that are essential for what I need. Yes, the list is bias with a emphasis on Java development. I marked the critical applications in bold. I would typically install of all of these tools on one machine over a long time period. Some of the tools seem similar in nature, for example, I do install Netbeans and Eclipse on the same machine. I may swap between the IDEs if there are tools ...

Overview Jeff Hawkins of Numenta and previously the creator of Palm Inc has shifted his focus from mobile computing to developing a sophisticated AI system. He has always been passionate about artificial intelligence. Jeff knew early on that the trends in AI research weren't very promising. He had concentrated his AI interest in human biology and neuroscience. Numenta has patented HTM (Hierarchical Temporal Memory) technology. According to Jeff Hawkins, you cannot mimic brain functions without including a hierarchical system of memory. The lower level has more input/output nodes than the level above it. According to Jeff, you must also take into account "temporal" memory. For example, the human brain has many parts of the brain that handle visual information. The brain may be able to detect a particular object but also factor in the time that the visual event occurred. If you are at the zoo, your brain predicts that you will see animals and animals in cages at the zoo...

Practical AI: Machine Learning and Data Mining with Weka and Java Most people tend to think of Artificial Intelligence with depictions of autonomous bipedal robots speaking and greeting humans in a monotone voice. The computer science field of Artificial Intelligence is far from that science fiction world that we see portrayed in the movies. The most prominent past AI research seems more like it would fit under a branch of mathematics and not computer science. AI research sub-fields include machine learning, data mining, computer vision, string match and indexing, search algorithms and neural networks. There is a new focus on not just faster search algorithms and pattern recognition, but building a relationship between computer science, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, biology. AI is branching out beyond the algorithms and merging with those other general science and medical fields. Marvin Minsky, a prominent researcher in the AI field, called some of the previous interest...

What is Anime? Google it. Anime is Japanese animation. Animation that is not necessarily targeted for kids. In fact, some Animation can be pretty rough and make a 40 year old squirm. Basically, Anime has characters and culture, stories, plots. If you like interesting stories, then you will like most of the popular Anime. What is the difference between Manga and Anime? I am American and usually just refer to anything that moves and is from Japan as "Anime" or Japanimation. But that isn't entirely accurate. There are some Anime TV series/movies that were Manga comic books in Japan and then made into movies. Manga to Anime. Manga is Comic Book in Japanese. If someone says, "Fullmetal Alchemist is a great Manga". I guess they could refer to the comic book version of Fullmetal or the TV adaptation. But normally they are referring to the comic book. Anime can be an animated series derived from a Manga. Popular Adult Stuff There are many genres o...

**Contains Spoilers** I rated this film a little lower than the movie review sites and user ratings on IMDB. The film suffers from two problems. First problem: It is a basic, very obvious thriller movie. In the beginning of the movie, when a character tells you, "One of these persons in the picture killed her". And the movie leads towards one of the people actually killing that person. Who cares, you already know what is going to happen. And there are only two or three suspects. So, the thriller aspect of the movie isn't that interesting. It is unfortunate that they spent all of this energy to build up the suspense of the potential killer, when we already know it is either that guy, that guy or that guy. And to be honest, the older killers aren't even that interesting anyway. I don't care if any of them were the killers. They were Nazi's and/or Nazi sympathizers. So, the thriller elements in the movie weren't that interesting to me. Sec...

Using ProgramD AIML bot as a personal assistant http://code.google.com/p/ainotebook/ Introduction ¶ ProgramD is a fully functional AIML bot engine that is implemented with Java. It supports multiple bots, it is easy to configure and runs in a GUI application and also under a J2EE environment. AIML, or Artificial Intelligence Markup Language, is an XML dialect for creating natural language software agents. When the AIML markup language is loaded for your bot, then you chat with the bot. Once you become familiar with the AIML format, you can then build a simple personal assistant bot. For Java developers, you may add Java keyword definitions or links to useful resources. Quickstart ¶ To use ProgramD, you can use the mirrored binary/source version provided on this site (programd .zip) or visit http://www.aitools.org/Program_D The version on this site includes jetty webserver configured with a programd web application. Launch the GUI application ¶ Navigate to: the HOME\bin direct...

Java OpenGL and the Google AI Tron Bot Challenge. The Challenge Google and the University of Waterloo a Computer Science Club (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada) have created an AI challenge. This is more algorithm AI and not Turing Strong AI. "The objective is to create an AI to play the classic game Tron, Surround, Snafu, Snake, etc." You must submit your entry by Feb 26th, 2010. Imagine Tron, there are two opposing players on a N x N (say 50x50) grid and the goal is to trap the other player. The players can move north, south, east, west in the adjacent squares but into a wall or the other player's previously occupied squares. I thought I would try my hand at the challenge. I was actually quite pleased with their handling on the contest. There are normally about 600+ active bots in the challenge. The website provides great stats on how your bot is doing. There is a graph with wins and losses and a javascript application that can replay any game. I really didn't want to talk...

If you want to cache/copy youtube videos for later use, go tor you firefox cache and just copy the flv files over. My Name\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\rxxs25wm.default\Cache ---- The filenames are like: B7922209d01 Add .flv as your file extension and then open a valid flv player. Look for the files that are over 2mbs. And normally you have to watch a complete youtube video, wait until it caches and then close firefox for the cache to be saved to disk. ---- And another note, I watch a lot of youtube videos. Every youtube download may cost you 15mbs of bandwidth. So I would consider watching the videos from file. I ate up 20gigs of bandwidth last month. I think my isp is considering charging me extra.