Personal Mobile Assistant

Posted on November 17, 2011 by ck| Leave a comment

I’ve been thinking more about this natural language processing. I’ve taken moving an appointment as my example:

“Move my next appointment to 4 o’clock and send updates”

How would I process this?

I’d start by looking for a subject term – in this case “appointment”.  Then I would look for whether I’m processing a new or an existing item – “next” (without the word new, as in “new appointment next to” etc.) signifies an existing appointment.  So what do I want to do with it?  Delete, move, cancel, see / hear details?  Where am I moving it to? 4 o’clock – most likely PM.

This makes me think a lot of these tasks can be broken into flows like this, which would eventually look like a big tree diagram.

Surely you could then create some kind of interpreted language to build this tree, open it out to the web and have user submissions through some kind of web app, with peer reviews of each processing step.

Again, anyone want to join in and help?

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A Close Call

Posted on November 16, 2011 by ck| Leave a comment

I should have posted this back when it happened, at least October wouldn’t have been such a dull month* on here:

Note this is my first day back cycling after being knocked off….

* Is it ever actually not dull?

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Is a server based app best for mobile processing?

Posted on November 16, 2011 by ck| Leave a comment

As much as I think it’s a gimmick, I like the Siri adverts. Mostly because I like gimmicks. Anyone who knows me knows I will never buy an Apple product, so I’m looking for an Android alternative. The current front-runner appears to be Iris. I was looking through their blog, and found this post.

Their whole release flopped because the volume of requests took the server down.  Apparently natural language processing is hard and so needs to be done by the server, however the server has to handle thousands of requests, and there is a network overhead.  My phone is over 18 months old and has a 1GHz processor (HTC Desire) which is more powerful than a PC I had 10 years ago.  Dividing server hardware (even chunky servers) by thousands of users comes out at less power being allocated to me than my phone has.  New phones are dual core 1.2GHz plus, and there are rumours that phones around the corner will have quad core processors.

When building server apps at work, I’ve often wanted more processing power and have wondered about all the wasted processing power on the phone-monkey’s machines (this isn’t a derogatory comment – my day job splits me between being a code-monkey and a slide-monkey).  Folding@home is all about distributed processing power, so when security of data is less important offloading tasks can be hugely beneficial, especially if the data processing is easily split into chunks and you have a large user base.

Surely these two things can be pulled together…

What would I do if I was building this application (and I’m tempted to try – let me know if you want to get on board)?  I would first write my algorithm, making sure it could be coded in a number of languages.  I would then build and test a phone and server version.  Finally, I would route the processing to the optimal place – on a fast phone it would be done locally, and on a slow phone it would be sent to the server.  Simples.

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The Most Annoying Thing About Insurance: The Cross-Sell

Posted on September 13, 2011 by ck| Leave a comment

I recently renewed my car insurance. I have spoken to three people on the phone – the inital person that set up the policy (I had to phone to set up monthly payments, apparently they can’t do that online), someone when I paid off the balance in full, then an after-sales check-in (they called me).

Each time, I was offered advanced hire car cover – where I get a hire car if my car is stolen or written off (by default, you only get a hire car when your car is being repaired). This involves a long spiel, and they make it a point to check that I understand the massive implicatinos of not having a car for up to 3 weeks if I don’t have my car. “You added business cover to your policy, are you sure you don’t need it for work?” “Don’t you use your car for work?”

I know my own situation, and know that I have friends I can call on if in an emergency. Is that extra £20 really worth 3 people spending 5 mins each asking me about it? (Yes I’m that tight, although they might as well give it to me for free given how much they’ve spent trying to sell it).

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Damn, it finally happened

Posted on September 13, 2011 by ck| Leave a comment

Blood on Road

Yesterday, I got knocked off my bike.

A silver 57-plate Mercedes mvoed over to the left straight into where I was which sent my front-wheel sideways and me over the handlebars.

I’ve got a few injuries: cut and bruised fingers, grazed elbow, grazed side, bruised ribs and a shoulder I can’t move (meaning I can’t even dress myself properly).

The bike seems to be pretty OK, needs some adjustment to put things back in their place, but haven’t had it checked over properly yet…

Now I have a real dilemma. Do I go down the ambulance-chasing insurance-threatening normally-scamful compensation route?

Yes I’ve had a couple of days of pain (so far), I don’t want to get back on my bike and I have had to work from home, but does the other guy deserve to have his insurance go up, which has a knock-on effect to everyone else with car insurance.

One view is that he wasn’t paying enough attention and does deserve the extra premiums, but on the other hand it will likely cost him for years and the insurance companies will be the overall winners.  I already regret how much I have to pay for my insurance, so anything that leads to an insurance claim for me looks painful, but I can see the macro effect of everyone doing this.

The other side of me thinks “well if everyone else is doing it, why not me?” I mean if my premiums are going to go up anyway, why shouldn’t I get some cash out of the back of it?

And the funny thing is I think most people when involved in an accident think of view number 2. Nothing about the actual pain or loss of earnings, just how much can they get. This is why the term “whipcash” has come about – medically it is very hard to prove or disprove whiplash so people just have to “put it on” for a bit and they get free money (or more – see the link below).  And this is where my position becomes clearer – I’m not just after a quick bit of cash (although it would be useful, my fence blew over in the wind yesterday), I would rather receive fair compensation based on real injuries and problems than inflate some claim.

HM Solicitors iPad offer

For this reason, I won’t be visiting any claim lawyers until after I am fully better (if I do at all) as I don’t want to have any injuries exagerated.  I am keeping a record of how I feel and what I can do, with accompanying photos, which I can use as evidence if necessary.

My ideal scenario would be that I am fully better tomorrow, and the driver would be willing to help me get my fence fixed as a measure of good will.

Let’s see what happens.

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Stolen Bikes

Posted on September 11, 2011 by ck| Leave a comment

Secure BikeHave you noticed all the ghetto looking guys riding pink girly bikes?  If not, then have you looked to see if they have a horizontal (men’s) crossbar or a diagonal (girl’s) crossbar?  Obviously the new double-suspension tiny frames don’t look like this, but they’re all nicked anyway.

Surely it would be straightforward to check any guy on a girl’s bike and see if he’s nicked it?  When I was little I had my bike stamped with my house name and postcode on the frame.  Nowadays, that combined with a database should make it really easy for stolen cycles to be identified and return to their owners.

Hell, at £1/month for a contract with texts and the cheap price of hardware, it is probably worth it on any non-Halfords bike to include a tracker system.

But I doubt more than 1% of stolen bikes are returned to their rightful owners (excluding one’s stolen from the school bike sheds, then used by the kids that stole them to come to school).

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A long overdue rant

Posted on August 15, 2011 by ck| 2 Comments

Double decker busPhoto source.

This is something that has annoyed me for a while…

It seems buses don’t have the little indicator clicker noise that cars have. Either that or all bus drivers are deaf (which would also explain the non-committal grunt you often get from an NCT driver).

I say this because I often drove along behind a bus in the next lane along wondering when he is going to move into my lane. I mean, he’s been indicating for the last mile so surely he must want to soon. Last weekend, I had the joy of following a bus with his hazards on (still carrying passengers). It took three attempts of gesticulating, flashing hazards and lights, and malicious braking (not really) before he got the hint and turned them off.

I’m tempted to say that not cancelling your indicators is nearly as bad as not using them like a typical BMW driver.

Maybe BMW => Bus May Weave?

Comment with any of your own BMWs…

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Shut it, Clarkson

Posted on July 19, 2011 by ck| Leave a comment

image

Old Jezza reviewed the McLaren MP4-12C not long ago, and although it was the second fastest to lap the track, he poo-pooed it for not having enough feeling, or anything else that would invoke a penance into the Alfa Romeo “swear” box.

But this is clearly a ridiculously fast car, as proven by the insane lap time. It is also cheaper than a lot of the cars it beat (although at £160K it isn’t exactly what I would call cheap). 

So why didn’t JC like it?

Well, he’s used to hooning around boisterously on Bedford autodrome, where the run off zones are literally big enough to land a commercial plane on. This means he can take these expensive cars, plant his foot firmly on the floor and grab an armful of lock or so (who needs to be precise) and shred tyres like the Stig preparing a topping for his bolognese, without any worry of doing any damage. He also doesn’t have to pay for the cars, or any of their running costs.

The McLaren is an expensive, finely honed car that does actually cost a lot of money. If I’d paid that much for a car, I wouldn’t want it to just let me take a corner with a flat foot and end up backwards through a tree. If I wanted that experience, I’d buy a Clio V6 and a coffin at the same time. Instead, I think the tricks and jiggery-pokey are fantastic as I’ll be able to drive fast and rely on the awesomeness to keep me alive if I make a mistake.

From the moment I heard Gordon Murray was working on a new McLaren supercar (maybe even a hypercar) I was excited – look at the McLaren F1 and the detail that went into that – this had the possibility to be a game changer. It was always going to be light and have a great power to weight ratio, but they’ve also managed to beat the Japanese at electronically controlled chassis’. Braking the inside front wheel on entry to a corner may seem obvious, but they’ve got it so right that it is an extension of the driving experience, not an artificial effect.

I do like Top Gear – its a great entertainment show, but that’s all it is really, when I want a proper review of a car I steer clear of any TV programs and read EVO magazine – the ultimate word in car reviews.  They have a more positive view of the MP4-12C, so more respect there.

My one caveat to all this is I haven’t driven one, so if McLaren fancies sending one around for me to try, I’d be more than happy.  Blow it, I’d even be willing to come and pick it up.

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Modern day slavery

Posted on July 10, 2011 by ck| 1 Comment

The preach this Sunday at my church was on Ephesians 6:5-9, which is guidance for slaves and their masters.  If you want to know what that advice was and how it applies to us, listen to it here [mp3].

Slavery picWhat I want to talk about is how slavery itself would have worked today. Now I work in the debt industry; my employer focuses on maximising returns on non performing debt. This normally means chasing someone to pay until they do, it’s clear they won’t, or they take a legal action like an IVA or bankruptcy.

Back 2000 years ago if someone had debts that they couldn’t pay, they were sold into slavery to cover those debts.  Slavery meant working hard, but also having accommodation and often being paid.  They could eventually buy their way out of slavery after saving for years and starting their family legacy again.

What would it be like if this practice was still in place?

Well for starters, the banks wouldn’t employ people in the normal fashion, they’d own enough people to cover all back-office staff.  The Post Office would run as a bank just so their debtors could deliver the mail.

The data processing my company does on behalf of creditors would be a little different, asset valuations would have multipliers related to children of different ages, disabilities could be part of the value scorecards and balance sheets would need a new row in the equities and liabilities section.

Obviously the PC crowd would need satiating, but it might be easier to call in their debts and force away their “rights”.  We’d probably also see a whole new micro measurement for smallprint in loan contracts.  Overdraft limit charges would he dealt with in the same way as petty crimes are now (like drink driving*) with some community service.

But how would we deal with corporate debt?  Or public debt?  Would all Greeks be spread evenly across their creditor nations to bolster the ranks of underpaid public servants?

Obviously we won’t ever see this, but it’s interesting to think about…

</satire>

* I don’t think drink driving is a petty crime, but the sentences would indicate so, It’s highly unlikely you get more than a license endorsement and a fine.

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Kinect SDK: Making the mouse move

Posted on July 4, 2011 by ck| Leave a comment

So I’ve been playing with Kinect a bit more, and now have a program that moves the mouse (roughly) and lets you click and drag with voice commands.  Needs a bit of tidying, and testing when it isn’t so dark…

Sorry about all the <p> and </p> – finding a decent code formatter for WordPress seems to be more difficult than I though it would be… Just find/replace if you want to use it.

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