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Scotty

Story, Friday June 30, 2017

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2 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Smartphones are closer to current PCs than current PCs to original IBM PC. MUCH closer in some regards, especially if you look at amount of memory.

My first hard drive cost more $$$ than four of my current smartphone. It stored 40 megabytes - and the OS on the computer it was for wouldn't support more than 32 megabytes in a single partition. My phone has 64 gigabytes of built-in storage plus an SD card slot that I could shove half a terabyte into for less than $100.

The phone also has a faster processor and more RAM than that computer - and it's a four-core processor.

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57 minutes ago, Don Edwards said:

My first hard drive cost more $$$ than four of my current smartphone. It stored 40 megabytes - and the OS on the computer it was for wouldn't support more than 32 megabytes in a single partition. My phone has 64 gigabytes of built-in storage plus an SD card slot that I could shove half a terabyte into for less than $100.

The phone also has a faster processor and more RAM than that computer - and it's a four-core processor.

Also, as per the movie Iron Sky, the iPhone is the preferred brand of supercomputer that space nazis use to power their giant spaceship.

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7 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

The glove, gauntlet, watches, and TF tech suggest to me that Tedd, as a Seer, can manipulate mundane materials into producing magical effects.

Would this make him a kind of Enchanter or Technomancer?

Pandora MIGHT be getting close to revealing that. Just now, she told Tedd that he is NOT just engineer, that without his magic his devices are useless (except watches). Now, if there is still at least some technology needed, he would be Technomancer. If it doesn't actually matter what he build the stuff from, he would be Enchanter.

Note: TF tech is Uryuom technology and works without Seer or any other powers. And Tedd can actually work with it, presumably without using any magic. Presumably.

7 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

My first hard drive cost more $$$ than four of my current smartphone. It stored 40 megabytes - and the OS on the computer it was for wouldn't support more than 32 megabytes in a single partition. My phone has 64 gigabytes of built-in storage plus an SD card slot that I could shove half a terabyte into for less than $100.

The phone also has a faster processor and more RAM than that computer - and it's a four-core processor.

I remember computers without HDD. As I said - closer.

Also note that your phone has 32bit or maybe even 64bit processor. IBM PC had 16bit processor.

2 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:
10 hours ago, Scotty said:

Smartphones are basically pocket PCs these days.

Smartphones are more powerful than the mainframes used by NASA for Project Apollo.

Yes. And that's MAINFRAMES. Computers on board of Apollo were even weaker. On the other hand, were capable of surviving much more radiation.

2 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

A reasonably fresh thought: If magic does change, guess who gets to teach his runaway mom the new magical ropes?

Not so fresh and yes, it may be way how to get Noriko back. Tedd wouldn't be the ONLY one who can teach her, also presumably he doesn't need to teach her personally, but she's certainly going to find out: there is no way Tedd would be able to hide his abilities from Edward after reset, and other seers are likely to take more time to be discovered.

Unless he elope - I mean, escape, although the wedding might be involved - and Noriko will be using her non-magic tracking experience to bring him back.

(It would be much easier to explain AND safer when someone asks about his parents if he just points they didn't agree with the wedding than to say the truth.)

 

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3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

A reasonably fresh thought: If magic does change, guess who gets to teach his runaway mom the new magical ropes?

 

13 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

Not so fresh and yes, it may be way how to get Noriko back. Tedd wouldn't be the ONLY one who can teach her, also presumably he doesn't need to teach her personally, but she's certainly going to find out: there is no way Tedd would be able to hide his abilities from Edward after reset, and other seers are likely to take more time to be discovered.

Unless he elope - I mean, escape, although the wedding might be involved - and Noriko will be using her non-magic tracking experience to bring him back.

On the old boards, long before this magic reset stuff came up, I wrote a scene of Noriko being informed that she's being seconded to the United States for a while to do some high-energy work with a magical engineer... named Tedd Verres...

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On 6/30/2017 at 6:39 PM, hkmaly said:

The problem is that seers were using their abilities just fine hundreds years ago without all the technology Tedd has, which suggest that any electronics he is putting in the glove is not actually needed for the functionality - that only purpose of it is to convince Tedd it will work.

13 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

Pandora MIGHT be getting close to revealing that. Just now, she told Tedd that he is NOT just engineer, that without his magic his devices are useless (except watches). Now, if there is still at least some technology needed, he would be Technomancer. If it doesn't actually matter what he build the stuff from, he would be Enchanter.

Maybe seers just have a natural ability to use what's available to them. Tedd uses technology, but the technology itself doesn't do anything special.

If we go back to the discussion about materials used for wands and such, how either rarity and value, or just the composition of the material, determines how much energy can be stored or what kinds of spells can be infused in them. The watches might have just enough gold or crystal or something that can allow a spell to be infused in them but it of course wouldn't be enough to hold the energy needed to cast the spell.

It's interesting because I don't think we've ever seen how Tedd actually designs the spells and how he set it up so that one had to "push the button with the intent to use magic and say the desired effect 3 times", it was assumed that he used the computer, but maybe that was just to get the morph designs figured out, and then how would he transfer said designs to the glove. All we ever saw was a design phase, and the watch infusion phase, I don't think we ever saw the whole process from start to finish so we have no clue what Tedd's doing halfway through.

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3 hours ago, Scotty said:

All we ever saw was a design phase, and the watch infusion phase

And a very important part of the testing phase: making sure the safeties work.

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5 hours ago, Scotty said:

Maybe seers just have a natural ability to use what's available to them. Tedd uses technology, but the technology itself doesn't do anything special.

Pile of electronic components is not technology. Technology is when it works BECAUSE of those components and how they are connected.

5 hours ago, Scotty said:

If we go back to the discussion about materials used for wands and such, how either rarity and value, or just the composition of the material, determines how much energy can be stored or what kinds of spells can be infused in them. The watches might have just enough gold or crystal or something that can allow a spell to be infused in them but it of course wouldn't be enough to hold the energy needed to cast the spell.

Considering they are supposed to be gadget watches for prices at arcades, I would say the required material needs to be tin, aluminium, glass or something similar. What would gold or crystal do in gadget watches?

Of course, maybe if there would be actual gold or crystal, they would even hold the energy.

5 hours ago, Scotty said:

It's interesting because I don't think we've ever seen how Tedd actually designs the spells and how he set it up so that one had to "push the button with the intent to use magic and say the desired effect 3 times", it was assumed that he used the computer, but maybe that was just to get the morph designs figured out, and then how would he transfer said designs to the glove. All we ever saw was a design phase, and the watch infusion phase, I don't think we ever saw the whole process from start to finish so we have no clue what Tedd's doing halfway through.

Yeah ... WE didn't. Between here and here, Tedd modified the morph, prepared the spell and transferred it to watches. Both Grace and Sarah could clearly saw it, but WE were watching them.

That said, based on "it would be worth showing otherwise", I don't think Tedd was doing anything visibly interesting. I really think if Tedd would be putting anything into those watches, it would be shown or mentioned, which suggests he really just designs something on computer, maybe "compiles" it, transfers it to glove and then uses the glove to infuse it onto the watches.

 

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7 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Considering they are supposed to be gadget watches for prices at arcades, I would say the required material needs to be tin, aluminium, glass or something similar. What would gold or crystal do in gadget watches?

I dunno, I've seen some toy watches that play sounds, light up, and also still tell time either by a small LCD display or quartz movement. The might be a chip or something inside that has gold coated pins plus the quartz itself might be barely adequate for a spell. But yeah, tin, aluminum and glass could be enough as well.

7 hours ago, hkmaly said:

That said, based on "it would be worth showing otherwise", I don't think Tedd was doing anything visibly interesting. I really think if Tedd would be putting anything into those watches, it would be shown or mentioned, which suggests he really just designs something on computer, maybe "compiles" it, transfers it to glove and then uses the glove to infuse it onto the watches.

Tedd might be using the computer to design something, but then committing that design to his own memory before transferring it to the watch through the glove.

I don't see a USB connector for the glove. Are we to assume that the gem on the back of the glove is the wi-fi access and memory chip.

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19 minutes ago, Scotty said:

I dunno, I've seen some toy watches that play sounds, light up, and also still tell time either by a small LCD display or quartz movement. The might be a chip or something inside that has gold coated pins plus the quartz itself might be barely adequate for a spell. But yeah, tin, aluminum and glass could be enough as well.

... ok, quartz is technically crystal and while it's likely miniature it may count. But I don't believe anyone would put gold coated pins on chip for gadget watches when Intel is not soldering their CPUs.

19 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Tedd might be using the computer to design something, but then committing that design to his own memory before transferring it to the watch through the glove.

Question is, is he doing it deliberately or subconsciously?

Because I can totally believe he is doing it subconsciously, but it would be harder to convince me it's how he designed it. Because, again, everything he's SHOWN doing implies he is convinced to engineer technology devices which should work for anyone who can power them with the little magic even he knows he have.

19 minutes ago, Scotty said:

I don't see a USB connector for the glove.

I don't think Tedd would be able to hack USB interface. That's packet-based protocol. He would be more likely to use RS-232 or some GPIO like on Raspberry Pi - OR he would use standard chips, in which case he can go with bluetooth or wifi directly.

19 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Are we to assume that the gem on the back of the glove is the wi-fi access and memory chip.

Of course, the glove doesn't seem to have ANY cable or connector, but they may be hidden. Or the mentioned bluetooth/wifi. Alternatively, perhaps the thing on back of the glove is not fixed there - maybe he puts it in something connected to the computer, transfers the data there, then disconnects it and connects to glove (and we don't see the connector because it's "inside").

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On 6/30/2017 at 11:38 PM, chridd said:

Didn't the term "smartphone" used to include flip phones (as opposed to, say, those that only could call and maybe store a few numbers), or am I misremembering?

"Smart Phone" was more or less invented to cover Android phones and other things that look like an iPhone but are not an iPhone

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18 minutes ago, mlooney said:
On 7/1/2017 at 6:38 AM, chridd said:

Didn't the term "smartphone" used to include flip phones (as opposed to, say, those that only could call and maybe store a few numbers), or am I misremembering?

"Smart Phone" was more or less invented to cover Android phones and other things that look like an iPhone but are not an iPhone

Actually, Symbian was already considered OS for SmartPhones. With that, I would say that it was quite a feat, coining a term for phones looking like something which didn't appeared until eight years later.

Also, while Apple was first to get multi-touch to mainstream, the previous phones weren't looking THAT differently, because multi-touch isn't visible :)

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1 hour ago, hkmaly said:

Actually, Symbian was already considered OS for SmartPhones. With that, I would say that it was quite a feat, coining a term for phones looking like something which didn't appeared until eight years later.

Also, while Apple was first to get multi-touch to mainstream, the previous phones weren't looking THAT differently, because multi-touch isn't visible :slight_smile:

I stand, or more accurately sit, corrected.

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On 7/2/2017 at 2:46 PM, hkmaly said:

... ok, quartz is technically crystal and while it's likely miniature it may count. But I don't believe anyone would put gold coated pins on chip for gadget watches when Intel is not soldering their CPUs.

I think you misunderstand what they are talking about here. The IHS that they write about is the Integrated Heat Spreader, and Intel has used solder or a TIM back and forth ever since they started using these. So Intel not soldering the IHS on a series is nothing remarkable. The core however is, and has always been, soldered. Further more even the cheapest chip will be bonded using gold wires. There is simply no material able to replace gold for this.

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1 hour ago, Cpt. Obvious said:

There is simply no material able to replace gold for this.

Hasn't this sentiment been applied to many subjects over the millennia including, but not limited to, wedding rings, dental crowns, coins, capital reserves, and enemies of the Green Lantern Corps?

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On 7/1/2017 at 2:36 PM, Tom Sewell said:

Smartphones are more powerful than the mainframes used by NASA for Project Apollo.

So when are we going to be able to get a cheap and easy-to-use computer graphics program capable of making a full-length feature film's special effects, that fits on our smart phones?  ;-)

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27 minutes ago, CritterKeeper said:

So when are we going to be able to get a cheap and easy-to-use computer graphics program capable of making a full-length feature film's special effects, that fits on our smart phones?  ;-)

They already have those. I could watch The Force Awakens on my iPhone if I wanted to.

...

...what? :danshiftyeyes:

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7 hours ago, Cpt. Obvious said:
On 7/2/2017 at 2:46 PM, hkmaly said:

... ok, quartz is technically crystal and while it's likely miniature it may count. But I don't believe anyone would put gold coated pins on chip for gadget watches when Intel is not soldering their CPUs.

I think you misunderstand what they are talking about here. The IHS that they write about is the Integrated Heat Spreader, and Intel has used solder or a TIM back and forth ever since they started using these. So Intel not soldering the IHS on a series is nothing remarkable. The core however is, and has always been, soldered.

The point is that soldering the IHS would make the CPUs much cooler (pun intended). Especially considering how cheap paste they are using there (I guess it would be OK if they used something better, like liquid metal paste). And that's top line CPUs.

8 hours ago, Cpt. Obvious said:

Further more even the cheapest chip will be bonded using gold wires. There is simply no material able to replace gold for this.

I can assure you I have chips around - not CPUs, smaller chips of course - which have contacts totally not looking gold. So, unless they put additional effort in recoloring it ... (on the other hand, I suspect that several those who DO look gold are actually copper).

1 hour ago, CritterKeeper said:
On 7/1/2017 at 9:36 PM, Tom Sewell said:

Smartphones are more powerful than the mainframes used by NASA for Project Apollo.

So when are we going to be able to get a cheap and easy-to-use computer graphics program capable of making a full-length feature film's special effects, that fits on our smart phones?  ;-)

Never ; you need mouse for the graphics program to be easy-to-use.

Otherwise, I'm not sure ... Video Maker Movie Editor is missing something? :) (Never used it.)

 

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1 hour ago, CritterKeeper said:

So when are we going to be able to get a cheap and easy-to-use computer graphics program capable of making a full-length feature film's special effects, that fits on our smart phones?  ;-)

 

1 hour ago, The Old Hack said:

They already have those. I could watch The Force Awakens on my iPhone if I wanted to.

I was thinking more along the lines of The Last Starfighter having all its spaceships done on a Cray XMP supercomputer.  Or the Video Toaster used for the graphics for Babylon 5.  *Creating* the graphics, not just playing them.

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13 minutes ago, CritterKeeper said:

 

I was thinking more along the lines of The Last Starfighter having all its spaceships done on a Cray XMP supercomputer.  Or the Video Toaster used for the graphics for Babylon 5.  *Creating* the graphics, not just playing them.

I know. I was just, as usual, being deliberately obtuse. Actually I am pretty certain that a sufficiently determined nerd could probably already do that on existing smartphones.

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21 minutes ago, CritterKeeper said:

I was thinking more along the lines of The Last Starfighter having all its spaceships done on a Cray XMP supercomputer.

Cray X-MP was 105MHz computer with 16 MB RAM, with the Cray X-MP/48 version having four CPUs. Obviously the smartphones are already better, but noone is really interested in that kind of effects. In fact, I think some games running at those smartphones are rendering better animations in real time just because it's simpler than having it pre-rendered ... for example, look at this:

While the ways the player can influence the battle are pretty limited, the number of combinations ensure that it can't be pre-rendered, so ...

... so it's really only question of making configurable editor for it. The computing power is there, the libraries are there, just the GUI.

PS: Also, this application might work. Again, not tested, just found it by google. Or this.

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10 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

So when are we going to be able to get a cheap and easy-to-use computer graphics program capable of making a full-length feature film's special effects, that fits on our smart phones?  ;-)

You are living very close to a rant trigger you known.

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