6 ms·

Advanced Inertial Reference Sphere (1997)

57 points by xoa 5y ago

politician 5y ago
I’m loading this on my iPhone. It’s completely unreadable unless I manually switch to reader mode. Why can’t Apple fix Safari to make sites like this render at humane font sizes? They literally control how it renders.
- avalys 5y ago
  This is exactly what Reader View does. On my iPhone the address bar flashes “Reader View Available” when I load that site. But you can also get to it from the context menu that includes other website settings.
  - roywiggins 5y ago
    Both Firefox and Chrome on Android render it readably without reader mode though, it's fair to wonder why Safari can't do the same.
    - the_other 5y ago
      Firefox (macOS & iOS) and Safari (macOS and iOS) render it almost exactly the same as their platform counterpart, and pretty close cross-platform. It's simple HTML with few display directives so I don't find this surprising. What are you seeing?
- Robotbeat 5y ago
  Really? I actually read it fine as-is, and I’ve got the smallest iPhone (SE 2020) and a badly cracked screen. I much prefer this plain HTML style, and it’s easy to change the font size, pinch to zoom, rotate to landscape, or use reader mode. I actually prefer this to the non-zoomable “mobile”-ified modern webpage. The larger view makes it easier to keep track of where I am in the text versus a contextless feed of huge font text. Try holding your phone in landscape!
  - politician 5y ago
    Yeah. I know how to rotate my phone and I also like plain text pages. I don't like that Safari thinks rendering Times New Roman on a recent iPhone in what is effectively 2-point font and waiting for me to switch to Reader Mode is a good experience. A better experience would be for Safari to render it in Reader Mode by default for sites where it would look better by default. How could it possibly do this you ask? Render the pages to an offscreen buffer run an image readability heuristic to pick the one with better properties. Convert it to a bitmap and select the less dense one.
- the_other 5y ago
  The fact that Reader View can help you out suggests that in fact the site was made well. I absolutely don't want Safari "fixing" web content unless I ask it to (i.e. Reader View). I'm short sighted, use pinch-to-zoom and pan&scan about 95% of the time I'm using a computer. I'd rather this kind of content than most "fancy" web pages. (a well designed, readable blog is preferable-still).
- shawkinaw 5y ago
  Besides Reader View as mentioned by others, you can increase the zoom of the page (accessible in the “aA” button to the left of the URL.) This particular site renders pretty well at 200% on my phone in portrait. The zoom is site-specific so it won’t screw up any other sites. It’s generally a good way to make desktop sites legible.
rkangel 5y ago
> and perhaps marks the end of a long process of continuous refinement of INS technology. Submarines are the main target for highly precise INS development over the last few decades. GPS doesn't work under water, so they rely on dead reckoning navigation over long periods of time, only getting a 'proper' fix on the rare occasions that they surface. Also, militaries prepare for situations in which GPS isn't available. The simplest case for that being jamming - GPS is a weak signal so fairly easy to jam over an area.
- leeter 5y ago
  Also airplanes, satellites etc. The standard now is laser ring gyroscopes as they have no moving parts, are super sensitive, and very light in comparison to older options. Mentour pilot has an episode on how these are used in the 737. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_laser_gyroscope https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_laser_gyroscope
  - jjoonathan 5y ago
    Speaking of which, these seem like the kind of thing that would integrate well, but cell phones are still stuck with gyros/accelerometers/magnetometers that are pretty bad, especially in cities, double especially near buried power lines. The old "my heading spins rapidly in circles whenever I walk on a certain section of sidewalk" problem. Are there engineering challenges to integration or is it a spooky controlled technology conspiracy?
    - leeter 5y ago
      IIRC it's a size and power thing. You can emulate most of what a ring laser gyro does with good accelerometers and that's the better choice for most devices needing long battery life and compact size. Ring laser gyros (while small) are not that small last I checked. A quick google shows you can get them in about the size of a pocket watch. So potentially a good case addon for those that need it without the cost/power usage issues that would hit those that don't.
      - 5y ago
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
tablespoon 5y ago
> The AIRS has 19,000 parts. In 1989 a single accelerometer used in the AIRS (there are three) cost $300,000 and took six months to manufacture. What it would cost to build an equivalent-performance accelerometer today?
pinewurst 5y ago
Try the wonderful Inventing Accuracy by Donald MacKenzie for more info. https://www.amazon.com/Inventing-Accuracy-Historical-Sociology-Technology/dp/0262631474/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1JFL6E9W5W3ED&dchild=1&keywords=inventing+accuracy&qid=1634169442&s=books&sr=1-1 https://www.amazon.com/Inventing-Accuracy-Historical-Sociolo...
jmpman 5y ago
You can see one in person at the New Mexico Space Museum. Was the highlight of my visit. nmspacemuseum.org

57 points by xoa 5y ago

I’m loading this on my iPhone. It’s completely unreadable unless I manually switch to reader mode. Why can’t Apple fix Safari to make sites like this render at humane font sizes? They literally control how it renders.

avalys 5y ago
This is exactly what Reader View does. On my iPhone the address bar flashes “Reader View Available” when I load that site. But you can also get to it from the context menu that includes other website settings.
- roywiggins 5y ago
  Both Firefox and Chrome on Android render it readably without reader mode though, it's fair to wonder why Safari can't do the same.
  - the_other 5y ago
    Firefox (macOS & iOS) and Safari (macOS and iOS) render it almost exactly the same as their platform counterpart, and pretty close cross-platform. It's simple HTML with few display directives so I don't find this surprising. What are you seeing?
Robotbeat 5y ago
Really? I actually read it fine as-is, and I’ve got the smallest iPhone (SE 2020) and a badly cracked screen. I much prefer this plain HTML style, and it’s easy to change the font size, pinch to zoom, rotate to landscape, or use reader mode. I actually prefer this to the non-zoomable “mobile”-ified modern webpage. The larger view makes it easier to keep track of where I am in the text versus a contextless feed of huge font text. Try holding your phone in landscape!
- politician 5y ago
  Yeah. I know how to rotate my phone and I also like plain text pages. I don't like that Safari thinks rendering Times New Roman on a recent iPhone in what is effectively 2-point font and waiting for me to switch to Reader Mode is a good experience. A better experience would be for Safari to render it in Reader Mode by default for sites where it would look better by default. How could it possibly do this you ask? Render the pages to an offscreen buffer run an image readability heuristic to pick the one with better properties. Convert it to a bitmap and select the less dense one.
the_other 5y ago
The fact that Reader View can help you out suggests that in fact the site was made well. I absolutely don't want Safari "fixing" web content unless I ask it to (i.e. Reader View). I'm short sighted, use pinch-to-zoom and pan&scan about 95% of the time I'm using a computer. I'd rather this kind of content than most "fancy" web pages. (a well designed, readable blog is preferable-still).
shawkinaw 5y ago
Besides Reader View as mentioned by others, you can increase the zoom of the page (accessible in the “aA” button to the left of the URL.) This particular site renders pretty well at 200% on my phone in portrait. The zoom is site-specific so it won’t screw up any other sites. It’s generally a good way to make desktop sites legible.

rkangel 5y ago

> and perhaps marks the end of a long process of continuous refinement of INS technology. Submarines are the main target for highly precise INS development over the last few decades. GPS doesn't work under water, so they rely on dead reckoning navigation over long periods of time, only getting a 'proper' fix on the rare occasions that they surface. Also, militaries prepare for situations in which GPS isn't available. The simplest case for that being jamming - GPS is a weak signal so fairly easy to jam over an area.

leeter 5y ago
Also airplanes, satellites etc. The standard now is laser ring gyroscopes as they have no moving parts, are super sensitive, and very light in comparison to older options. Mentour pilot has an episode on how these are used in the 737. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_laser_gyroscope https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_laser_gyroscope
- jjoonathan 5y ago
  Speaking of which, these seem like the kind of thing that would integrate well, but cell phones are still stuck with gyros/accelerometers/magnetometers that are pretty bad, especially in cities, double especially near buried power lines. The old "my heading spins rapidly in circles whenever I walk on a certain section of sidewalk" problem. Are there engineering challenges to integration or is it a spooky controlled technology conspiracy?
  - leeter 5y ago
    IIRC it's a size and power thing. You can emulate most of what a ring laser gyro does with good accelerometers and that's the better choice for most devices needing long battery life and compact size. Ring laser gyros (while small) are not that small last I checked. A quick google shows you can get them in about the size of a pocket watch. So potentially a good case addon for those that need it without the cost/power usage issues that would hit those that don't.
    - 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

tablespoon 5y ago

> The AIRS has 19,000 parts. In 1989 a single accelerometer used in the AIRS (there are three) cost $300,000 and took six months to manufacture. What it would cost to build an equivalent-performance accelerometer today?

pinewurst 5y ago

Try the wonderful Inventing Accuracy by Donald MacKenzie for more info. https://www.amazon.com/Inventing-Accuracy-Historical-Sociology-Technology/dp/0262631474/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1JFL6E9W5W3ED&dchild=1&keywords=inventing+accuracy&qid=1634169442&s=books&sr=1-1 https://www.amazon.com/Inventing-Accuracy-Historical-Sociolo...

jmpman 5y ago

You can see one in person at the New Mexico Space Museum. Was the highlight of my visit. nmspacemuseum.org