I am myopic with a spherical power of around -4 on both eyes. I used to love high-dpi displays until recently. But now I can't seem to look at them for long. I am sorry, but I can't figure out the exact reasons. I have tried changing the resolution on the retina display and even turning off the over-sampling in the lower resolutions, but nothing feels comfortable. I also loved programming with font anti-aliasing/smoothing turned off, but this alas no longer works well on the retina display.
> Ironic for me that just as these things start to show up, I start to become less able to use them.
Same with me! I just bought the expensive 15" MacBook Pro with retina display, but I ended up using a 17" 1280x1024 external monitor with it to lower the eye strain. I am even more comfortable using a 19" 1280x1024 Dell monitor at work!
Just to clear some of the myths surrounding the exams - I studied for only a week (and only one subject - physics) before the exams in 1997 (the year the paper leaked and the exams were re-administered). I cleared the exams with a rank of ~1500. In the two years prior to the exams I was busy making money assembling computers. Did not take any coaching either.
I guess what I am trying to say is that the exams are not as hard as they are made out to be, and the students, at least some students, are not as studiously dumb as they might seem in retrospect. I know that most of us who cleared the exams with decent ranks were just luckier that those who didn't.
Oh, by the way, I almost didn't join IIT because that year the tution fees were hiked by 10x (from $30 to $300 per semester).
To accomodate the 1000x more sensitive sensor you will need a really fast shutter speed - maybe something like 1/1000000 of a second. Because shutters are mechanical devices, it might be difficult to achieve this without another leap in engineering. I am assuming that we cannot do much with the lenses.
I think that, to some extent, what we pay for are good memories. It just so happens that physical goods today produce longer lasting and stronger memories than digital goods. And the rapid increase in the production of digital stuff isn't helping their cause. Of course, at some point in the future we may actually identify strongly with and be as much possessive about our digital things as we are attached to our physical possessions.
Readability often conflicts with the geek-aesthetics on digital screens and devices. For example, I personally like to code with anti-aliasing off - I just find the code more readable that way (maybe I am used to that?). I also don't much like the retina-display because it tries to hide the digital nature of the device (can't see the pixels - makes sense?). Lastly, while serif fonts might be more readable when viewed from top there does seem to be something intangibly wrong with them when viewed head-on horizontally.
Differently, did you know that readability is not always good for all types of content? If an article requires some thought and concentration then less readability is preferable - see this video of Adam Alter on something he calls 'disfluency' - http://edge.org/video/disfluency
The design might be modern but it is very distracting. The photos are surrounded closely by so many other photos that it is difficult to enjoy the beauty of a particular photo - it like a painting framed by a gold gilded frame which is more beautiful than the painting itself. Photography is an art form but in this new layout the art is overwhelmed by its 'evil' cousin, design.
I have always had a eye for drawing and painting, but it took me over 13 years of practice to churn out half-decent sketches. I guess persistence is the key. As for writing - re-reading books and rewriting sentences can help. Each sentence should have enough spring to propel you and the reader to the next sentence. Of course, easier said than done and all that.
I used to suffer form frequent backaches. A couple of years back I shifted from modern office chairs to a solid wooden chair ($50) with no arms at home. The chair is heavy enough that it does not move as I shift my weight around. I find myself sitting up straight more often, as against slouching all the time, and since then I never had any back-pain.
I think we Indians are still trying to overcome our false sense of cleanliness. We keep our own houses clean but expect divine intervention outside. Partly due to the still-existing caste system, where the lowest castes are responsible for clearing the muck, associations with this work is looked down upon. Therefore the uninterestedness of the typical Indian in solving the problem. Public toilets are few and far between, and most go unmaintained for lack of people willing to do the job. This attitude is changing fast though, thanks largely to improvements in technology and pay which make it safer to engage in and survive doing such work.
In a way - note how the regions around the metropolitan cities of Bombay, Madras, Calcutta and New Delhi (using the old names here) are all lightly colored. These were and still remain the major trading and financial centers of the country.
Polymaths often make lasting contributions to world knowledge. It is narrow-minded to say that you don't want to learn something because of some pre-determined notion that you might not be good at that thing. Of course, saying (or suggesting) that you are proficient in something when you know that you are not is not fair. I am a programmer, but I am also an amateur designer and an accomplished artist. I am also a wannabe mathematician and one day I will write about my own accomplishments if nobody else does ;)
OP here. Sorry for joining late. Reading the comments on HN here was an uplifting experience! Thanks for all the feedback and encouragement! Can't reply to everyone but I will try to write a few follow up articles addressing the issue in further detail and depth. Thanks again!
I see an immense potential for a product like this. Art and architecture come immediately to mind. Because it makes a physical wire-frame quickly, it can also be used for prototyping and brain-storming product ideas. I am sure people will come out with extraordinarily creative things to do with this once they get them in their hand.
Can someone posts some pictures showing how the ghosting interferes with regular applications (Safari, iTunes, XCode etc)? Maybe it is something one can live with, especially considering how primitive the existing displays are compared to the retina display.
Hope this works. I grew up in Ranchi. In Pune (a relatively big city) I now see a lot of these vegetable home-delivery companies springing up. I am not sure how well they are working out.
Not there yet. I turned off AA in the Terminal and it looks smooth, but not completely. If I use a lower scaled resolution like 1440x900, then it looks even smoother, but again not completely smooth. So I guess an even higher dpi is needed. It would be interesting to see non-antialiased fonts on the iPhone which has a much higher dpi.
This is very well implemented. Congrats! I think you guys can jack up the number of files for free users. This will help build up a nice repository of models.
How about incorporating some form of shape search tool - might help browse as the repository grows large?