Consolidate your social networks with Socialite

Consolidate your social networks with Socialite | E-mail and Internet | MacUser | Macworld: "Being social is a lot of work these days: you gotta stay on top of Twitter, entertain your Facebook friends with games, Digg your favorite articles, explore your inner photographer on Flickr, and stay informed with Google Reader and Instapaper. If you’re tired of virtually huffing and puffing to keep up, Socialite 1.0 from Realmac Software may be your ticket to kicking back with social media."

Open source: No vow of poverty (or get-rich-quick scheme)

Open source: No vow of poverty (or get-rich-quick scheme) | The Open Road - CNET News: "With open-source software businesses, you have two options. Actually, three, but the third belongs to Red Hat, and it applies to roughly no one else."

Exporting a Lowpoly Model to Unity 3D

Exporting a Lowpoly Model to Unity 3D | BlenderCookie.com: "In this tutorial we examine how to export a model from Blender to Unity 3D and import it into a game. The tutorial also demonstrates how to bake a normal map and a color map from a highpoly model to the lowpoly counterpart, real-time display of the color/normal maps in the Blender viewport with GLSL shading, and real-time updating of assets in Unity."

Remember Your Password

Monday Puzzle: Remember Your Password - TierneyLab Blog - NYTimes.com: "In these days of heightened computer security, an average computer user has to manage a hundred passwords in his or her head, or so it seems. Every computer system you use at work, and every Internet site you use regularly (or even once in a blue moon) wants you to create an account with a password. Not only that, the requirements for the passwords are becoming more stringent: mix up letters and numbers they say, and sometimes non-alphanumeric symbols too. Don’t include any words that can be found in the dictionary, or the names of your children and pets. Change the password every ninety days. And don’t write it down anywhere."

'Glitch' forces A380 superjumbo to return to New York

AFP: 'Glitch' forces superjumbo to return to New York: "An Air France A380 had to turn around and land in New York after problems with its navigation system, only days after the super-jumbo began flying across the Atlantic, the airline said Monday."

15 Best Places for Designers to Get Free Stock Photos Online

15 Best Places for Designers to Get Free Stock Photos Online: "I’m not sure if you’ve ever had a look at the prices on some non-stock photography sites (pictures of Gummy bears for $769.00 anyone?), but they reach far beyond the budget of the typical designer/developer. However, many places online allow you to obtain high-quality stock photos for free, giving the average starving artist a chance to create wonderful works of art/design without having to use next month’s rent on stock photos."

Lenovo “Folding seats”

Directdaily: "The latest generation of Lenovo Thinkpad Notebooks is better prepared for heavy duty purposes than ever. The aim: an idea to attract retailers and key account clients for the unique package of security features (full metal frame, shockproof hard drive protection, spillproof keypad, etc.) and to kick off sales dialogues. They knew: Every year business clients are invited to Lenovo Roadshows scheduled all over Germany. Bus and tram shuttles waiting at central stations and airports bring visitors to the event location."

Photo Compositing with The GIMP

Photo Compositing with The GIMP: Part 1: "Basing from my previous GIMP article titled Creating Pseudo-3D Imagery with GIMP, you learned how to do some basic selection manipulation, gradient application, faking Depth of Field, etc. In line with that, I’m following it with a new article very much related to the concepts discussed therein but we’ll raise the bar a bit by having a glimpse on compositing, where we’ll use an existing image or photograph and later add in our 2-dimensional element seamlessly with the said picture."

Twelve Surprising Uses for Vicks VapoRub

Twelve Surprising Uses for Vicks VapoRub: "There are two scents that remind me being a sick kid: brandy and Vicks VapoRub. Whenever I had a cold, those were my mom’s go-to remedies. She would make me a glass of hot water, honey, and brandy and then rub Vicks on my chest. I always felt instantly better (and slightly tipsy)."

Sugar Mama/Boy Toy? The New Cougar Dating

Sugar Mama/Boy Toy? The New Cougar Dating | Psychology Today: "Many over-40 women don't mind being called 'cougars' but they are redefining cougar dating. The old stereotype of a sugar mama looking for a fling with a boy toy seems to be dying. This is the Demi-Ashton world, after all: over-40 women often exercise, use botox, take consummate care of themselves and create a youthfulness and vitality that belies their physical age. And many of these women are recognizing new relationship possibilities for themselves. A recent survey of 100 self-proclaimed cougars sheds light: more than 90% of these modern cougars say they want a long-term relationship with a younger man."

20 Free Project Management Software Programs

20 Free Project Management Software Programs - iSoftwareReviews: "Are you looking for free project management software solution? Looking the free alternative solution to Microsoft Project? Looking for free online project management tools? Looking for self-host web based project management and collaboration application? If you have one in above questions, this page is right for you. You will find top free 20+ project management programs which have been carefully selected in the following. You are also free to share your ideas, experiences in comment section. Let find out and get the right and best solution."

How To Get More From The Web

How To Get More From The Web: "Our century is certainly the best time to be alive and curious. Information abounds, from the Internet to the History Channel. Never in the history of humanity has information been so easily accessible, literally being at our fingertips. All that’s needed is an Internet connection and a keyboard (don’t forget the computer, too). Emulating (or trying to, for that matter) Michael Jackson’s Moonwalk is as easy as asking Google for foot-by-foot instructions. No more wading through volumes of philosophy books to get a list of Nietzsche’s most popular aphorisms, as there is a multitude of websites dedicated to the 19th century German thinker."

Ye Olde Vintage Computer Gift Guide

Ye Olde Vintage Computer Gift Guide - PC World: "Perhaps the ultimate holiday gift for any technology geek is a vintage artifact plucked from the pages of computer history. In the following slides, we'll look at an array of classic computer platforms"

10 of the most popular (and useful) Wordpress plugins

10 of the most popular (and useful) Wordpress plugins | Royal Pingdom: "Wordpress has risen to be a powerhouse on the Internet that now dominates the blogosphere. It was started by the (now) 25-year-old Matt Mullenweg. Last week he was on This Week in Startups with Jason Calacanis. On the show Matt revealed that Wordpress has such a strong presence on the Internet that at least one in three Americans online have visited a Wordpress blog in the last month."

The 2010 IT Salary Guide

The 2010 IT Salary Guide — Datamation.com: "Clearly, the 2010 IT Salary Guide reveals that average starting salaries are suffering a rough patch. It’s a bit grim to look at the list of IT salaries and see numbers that have fallen since last year: database administrator, down 4.1%; systems administrator, down 2.8%; IT manager, down 2.4%. Factoring in inflation, these modest declines represent true budget discomfort."

Video Professor Tries To Bully Washington Post, Fails

Video Professor Tries To Bully Washington Post, Fails: "Video Professor continues to be angry that I called them a scam in my original Scamville post. They’ve gotten nowhere reaching out to me directly (more on that below), so now they’ve tried complaining to the Washington Post, which has syndicated our content since 2008. The Washington Post stood firm beside us today and kept our original post as written. Good for them."

How to Want Very Little

How to Want Very Little: "There are two challenges that people face when choosing to live a more simpler life: owning little and wanting little. Yet people fuse these challenges together into a larger “live simply” goal. Unfortunately, they’re two different beasts that need to be tamed in their own ways."

What Are You Putting Off? How to Get On With It in 3 Steps

What Are You Putting Off? How to Get On With It in 3 Steps: "Most of us put things off. Sometimes, we put off getting started or making progress on big projects... and other times, we put off small tasks that sound simple on paper but seem like a big effort to do."

Why to embrace Firefox 3.6's new-tab ethos

Why to embrace Firefox 3.6's new-tab ethos | Deep Tech - CNET News: "The most prominent feature of Firefox 3.6 is Personas, which let you reskin the browser with thousands of different looks. But my single favorite change is a subtler change to the open-source browser's user interface."

Alternative Linux web browsers

Alternative Linux web browsers: "You know Firefox like the back of your hand. You’ve heard tale of Chrome and you know KDE has tried to pawn Konqueror off as their default browser. In the distance you hear Opera calling your name and IE4Lin tries to woo you to the dark side. Browsers, the lot of them. You can’t go about your daily digital life without one, and sometimes it’s just hard to tell which is the best for the job. But did you know there were even more alternatives to choose from? Many of them are one-trick ponies and some of them will never see the light of day on the average (or even somewhat above-average users’ desktop). But that doesn’t mean that these alternatives shouldn’t get a brief spot in the limelight."

Linux useless for home PC

Linux useless for home PC - Ubuntu 9.10 brings karma to the market - Talkback at ZDNet UK: "Until there is 'click & load' ordinary people wont us it. M$ has it right, if you want to upgrade or install a new program it's just one click. You almost need a degree in computing to do such a trivial thing in Linux due to it's disparate versions. What's needed is user friendly one click programs for Ubuntu & forget all the myriad of other Linux."

Are open source programmers fools and suckers?

iTWire - Are open source programmers fools and suckers?: "Analyst and consultant Josh Greenbaum has criticised the European Commission’s view that Oracle should jettison MySQL. Part of his argument is that MySQL can’t die because it is open source – and, Greenbaum says, this means there is no end of suckers willing to maintain it for free."

Free eBook: Inkscape: Guide to a Vector Drawing Program

Inkscape: "Inkscape, Guide to a Vector Drawing Program is the guide to the Inkscape program. The web-based version is linked directly under the program's Help menu. This book is both an introduction and reference for the Inkscape drawing program. With Inkscape, one can produce a wide variety of art, from photo-realistic drawings to organizational charts. Inkscape uses SVG, a powerful vector-based drawing language and W3C web standard, as its native format. SVG drawings can be directly viewed by web browsers such as Firefox and Opera."

How Twilight Works

How Twilight Works - The Oatmeal -: "A few weeks ago I had the miserable experience of reading Twilight. A friend bought it for me and I took it with me to read on a long flight from Seattle to Houston. I knew it was going to be crappy, but I thought it would be a guilty pleasure kind of crappy - where you know it's bad but you still get enjoyment out of it. I actually managed to power through around 400 pages until I gave up and started reading Sky Mall. I've been seeing Twilight everywhere lately, especially with Vampire Teens II New Moon's release, so I thought I'd break down why chicks go apeshit for it."

Air Force To Expand PlayStation-Based Supercomputer

Air Force To Expand PlayStation-Based Supercomputer -- Supercomputing -- InformationWeek: "The cluster of PlayStation 3 consoles is already being used for research into high-def video processing and systems with brain-like properties."

Gaming With Three 43'' CRVD Displays is Awesome

Gaming With Three 43'' CRVD Displays is Awesome - Tom's Hardware: "I remember drooling over NEC's 43-inch curved monitor, the CRVD, last June. Now that display has an Ostendo label and it's just as breathtaking as ever."

What Would've Happened if Hewlett Packard Built R2-D2

What Would've Happened if Hewlett Packard Built R2-D2 - Star Wars - Gizmodo: "Youch. So that's what would happen if HP built astromech droids. Can't say I blame Leia, those error messages make me want to break something, too. Though maybe a lightsaber would've looked more dignified than the baseball bat"

747 Jet Liner Bed

747 Jet Liner Bed | Motoart: "Let our new 747 Jet Liner Bed take you 'round the world'. Round beds were popular in the 60's and are now making a comeback, as they are a refreshing alternative to the rectangular bed. Using an authentic 747 engine nacelle cowling as the headboard, MotoArt combines an 84' diameter round mattress and box spring for a perfect fit. This well traveled engine nacelle makes a very comfortable headboard and arm rest combination. The nacelle headboard finish is complete with acrylic automotive paint, mirror polished leading nose ring and green Plexiglas end caps for internal structure viewing."

Happy Thanksgivings Everyone

All the best for the holidays.

Bonlebon

The Future of XML Processing

The Future of XML Processing: "XimpleWare's VTD-XML is, far and away, the industry's most advanced and powerful XML processing model for SOA and Cloud Computing! It is simultaneously."

Mistakes of a freelancer

Mistakes of a freelancer - Invisible to the eye: "I have been inspired by a post by Soon Hui to write about my mistakes. I have evolved much on the programming side during these years, but my biggest mistakes have been social and economic: dealing with other people. Thus, I have collect a list of my errors committed as a php freelance developer."

How to Backup MySQL Databases Automatically Using Cron

How to Backup MySQL Databases Automatically Using Cron | Coding && Computer Tips Blog: "Could you ever imagine a very big company losing important data because of incomplete backups or no backups at all ? If you think that large companies, that earn millions of dollars, backup their data daily or even hourly, then you are wrong. The reality is sad. A quite large portion of those high caliber corporations don’t even create backups and some of them that do, do not do it the right way."

Evolution Story of the Sony Walkman in the blink of an eye

Evolution Story of the Sony Walkman in the blink of an eye : Akihabara News .com: "This year, as you may know, marked the 30th anniversary of the Walkman. I believe for some of you, tracing the story of this groundbreaking device is like tracing your lifetime story from your childhood or adolescence years and on. So fasten your seat belts for a journey in time, here comes the Thirty-year-Story of the One in less than 3 minutes:"

HBS Cases: Customer Feedback Not on elBulli's Menu

HBS Cases: Customer Feedback Not on elBulli's Menu — HBS Working Knowledge: "He's been called 'the Salvador Dalí of the kitchen' for creations ranging from beetroot and yogurt ice-cream lollipops to a deconstructed Spanish omelet served in a parfait glass. Each year, some 2 million hopeful diners vie to be one of the fifty customers he serves each evening for the six months that elBulli, his restaurant, is open. The world is beating a path to Chef Ferran Adrià's door, but why?"

Ten Things to Be Thankful For

Ten Things to Be Thankful For | Psychology Today: "As Thanksgiving approaches, I think it's important to take a gratitude inventory. A number of things in life can make us uncomfortable or even a little miffed. But sometimes they are gifts in disguise. With that in mind, here are my top ten things to be thankful for."

10 Black Friday Shopping Tips By Urban Ninjas

10 Black Friday Shopping Tips By Urban Ninjas | Design + Ideas on WU: "Black Friday . . . are you preparing to battle the holiday shopping crowds? With the economy in a slouch, you had better be ready to fight for the best sales. You have to be fast and first into the store. You need amazing skills to navigate parked cars, blocked aisles, any obstacle that comes between you and that steal of a deal. Can you run faster, climb higher? Perhaps you should brush up on your ninjas skills before you go into the battle of the urban ninjas?"

Create an alerts system using XMPP, SMS, pureXML, and PHP

Create an alerts system using XMPP, SMS, pureXML, and PHP: "Thanks to the native XML support that pureXML® offers IBM DB2® database developers, you can load XML data directly into your database, freeing up development time to add functionality to your application. Follow along in this tutorial to import an XML file with Euro foreign exchange rates into an IBM DB2 database and use special XQuery and SQL/XML functions to split this XML into separate database rows. You will also create a PHP script that pulls down new rates from the European Central Bank (ECB) Web site each day. Then you will extend the script to send update alerts to a Google Talk user using the XMPP protocol, and to a cell phone by SMS text message using the Clickatell SMS gateway service. Finally, you will create a PHP script that generates a PNG (Portable Network Graphics) graph of this data."

Cultured Perl: Flickr, a business's bst frnd

Cultured Perl: Flickr, a business's bst frnd: "Flickr isn't just for photo sharing and social networking; it's a legitimate business tool. Learn how Perl programmers can use the CPAN Chart modules to create charts and graphs, and the Flickr::Upload module to upload the charts to Flickr."

Python Programming for Beginners

Python Programming for Beginners: "you want to outsmart the Spanish Inquisition, learn Python. This article is a practical introduction to writing non-trivial applications in Python."

The Last Lion in Kenya

The Last Lion in Kenya : EcoWorldly: "The lion cub pictured above is named Gabriella and lives at an animal orphanage in Nairobi. The Pride of Kenya website reports she lives there because she was left parentless due to a human-lion conflict. (Presumably this explanation means her mother was killed by humans). The post about her goes on to say that her life expectancy in captivity is about 22 years"

Build a Twitter Web application

Build a Twitter Web application: "Learn how to create a Twitter-enabled Web 2.0-style application using Django, jQuery, and the python-twitter wrapper that you can easily use and plug in to your own Django project. With this application, you'll be able to see recent tweets, post updates, and show your friends and followers."

Building smart Web applications for a smarter planet

Building smart Web applications for a smarter planet: "Currently, Web-based applications are being developed for almost every industry, providing online services that people can access anytime and anywhere. Such services range from online tutoring to virtual shopping, helping people complete their tasks with comfort and ease. Web-based systems are quite attractive because there are no platform constraints and installation requirements. With the emergence of Web 2.0, there is a lot of momentum to build intelligent Web applications that provide more intelligent services. This article describes an architecture for intelligent Web-based applications and discusses each component in the application with implementation details."

Microsoft: The Assassin of Google's Chrome OS

Microsoft: The Assassin of Google's Chrome OS - PC World: "Here's a scenario for how Redmond could combat Google's Net appliance OS before it gets out of the gate."

Linux in 5 Easy Steps - Getting Started and Choosing a Distro News Story

Linux in 5 Easy Steps - Getting Started and Choosing a Distro News Story: "Hey Windows fans, would you like to take Linux for a spin to see what everyone's buzzing about? It's easy to do in just five easy steps. You can test Linux for yourself without having to setup multibooting, worry about partitioning or installing over your current Windows system. That's right, you can. Try out that Linux power and coolness for yourself using these five easy steps. Don't worry, you'll never have to leave the comfort of Windows to do any of them--not even to a command line. Let's get started!"

Charming Python: Easy Web data collection with mechanize and Beautiful Soup

Charming Python: Easy Web data collection with mechanize and Beautiful Soup: "For collecting data from Web pages, the mechanize library automates scraping and interaction with Web sites. Mechanize lets you fill in forms and set and save cookies, and it offers miscellaneous other tools to make a Python script look like a genuine Web browser to an interactive Web site. A frequently used companion tool called Beautiful Soup helps a Python program makes sense of the messy 'almost-HTML' that Web sites tend to contain."

The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody

YouTube - The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody: "Bohemian Rhapsody' by Queen Purchase here"

15 Fantastic New Futuristic Tech & Gadget Designs

15 Fantastic New Futuristic Tech & Gadget Designs | Design + Ideas on WU: "Invisible speakers, wireless electricity and games you can control with your brain: all of these things may sound like science fiction, but thanks to recent technological innovation, they’re officially within the realm of possibility – or even already available. Some improve quality of life while others are just plain fun, but all of these futuristic gadgets and technologies will knock your socks off with their brilliance."

Ultra clean watercooled PC desk

Ultra clean watercooled PC desk. | Case Mod Blog: "I’ve seen PCs incorporated into desks before, but not executed like this. USFORCES decided he wanted more working space on his desktop. He designed a new desk that would accommodate his tweeked Q9650 system from a Thermaltake tower that consumed his space. The new desk is constructed from 3/4″ thick Oak Plywood sheets. Take a tip from this guy, If you ever plan your own water cooled desk, incorporate a custom reservoir in the front and a glass top working surface. These features are brilliant. I was just imagining the possibilities if “Ek WaterBlocks and “Thomasville” joined forces to offer something like this."

Retro Thing: 8 Bit Brilliance

Retro Thing: 8 Bit Brilliance: "It's space invaders madness."

How to Make $55,000 by Giving Away Your Work

How to Make $55,000 by Giving Away Your Work - Digits - WSJ: "A self-described “information radical,” Ms. Paley argues that content should be free, while “containers” for content — such as DVDs — should be paid for. To bolster her argument, she disclosed how much she has made from her “free” film in a recent talk at Power to the Pixel’s Cross-Media Film Forum in October."

Back to the Future Delorean Crysis Mod

YouTube - Back to the Future Delorean Crysis Mod: "Doors are open for a great video game idea."

How to Promote Your Brand Using Onsite Photography

How to Promote Your Brand Using Onsite Photography | Fifth Avenue Digital: "Everyone has a brand, even if they don’t know it. Your brand is Who You Are, your company name and all that stands behind it. Some people mistake their logo for their brand. Your logo is not your brand; it is a symbol of your brand. But just as your face gives the world an initial idea of who you are, your logo conveys an initial impression of your company’s brand."

How to Clear Out Your Unwanted Stuff

How to Clear Out Your Unwanted Stuff | eHow.com: "This is the time of the year for giving, and helping those in need. I think about this when I look around and see things I never use. There are so many items, canned foods, box foods, coats, blankets, and clothes we never wear."

How To Run A Cell Phone Collection Drive For Your Charity or Non-Profit

How To Run A Cell Phone Collection Drive For Your Charity or Non-Profit | Pacebutler Blog: "Every charity organization or non-profit seems to be doing cell phone or computer collection drives these days. Is it still worthwhile for your organization to collect old cell phones to help raise funds?"

First malicious iPhone worm slithers into wild

First malicious iPhone worm slithers into wild • The Register: "A Dutch internet service provider has identified a worm that installs a backdoor on jailbroken iPhones and makes them part of a botnet."

Win a Copy of “Pixar Short Films Collection – Volume 1″ (DVD or Blu-Ray)

Win a Copy of “Pixar Short Films Collection – Volume 1″ (DVD or Blu-Ray) - Cgtuts+: "Disney*Pixar invite you to discover these masterpieces of storytelling from the creative minds that brought you Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo and many more. With revolutionary animation, unforgettable music and characters you love, these dazzling short films have changed the face of animation and entertainment and are sure to delight people of all ages for years to come. Experience them now – for the first time together in an amazing collection including never-before-seen footage!"

Arrested Development

Arrested Development | Psychology Today: "Holiday cards have been arriving from old friends: college roommates, childhood pals. Most of us haven't seen each other in years, even decades. Inside a card that arrived yesterday, a lush flocked confection featuring the Three Kings, the sender wrote a note suggesting that we meet for coffee the next time she's in town. Why did this make me freeze? No bad blood seethes between me and the sender. We were friends. We shared clothes, stayed up late watching The Twilight Zone, and made cookies together -- but that was then and this is now, and were we to meet again, she'd see that she is all grown up and I am not."

Top 10 Things That Computer Programmers Hate

Top 10 Things That Computer Programmers Hate | Coding && Computer Tips Blog: "Whatever your job is, there are possibly some things that you hate while doing it. If you happen to be an electrician, spilling water on a circuit might be one of them. The exact same thing happens to programmers as well. The only possible difference between them and any other people is that they over react a bit."

How Google’s Chrome OS is pushing us to the clouds

How Google’s Chrome OS is pushing us to the clouds | Royal Pingdom: "Last week Google finally unveiled their much-talked-about Chrome OS, and subsequently worked the tech community into a frenzy. The operating system certainly lived up to Google’s initial promises of being browser-centric – it is basically just the Chrome web browser atop a custom Linux kernel."

The Black Friday deals that aren't

The Black Friday deals that aren't | Technically Incorrect - CNET News: "If it's five o'clock in the morning and you have to spend your time with far more people than you're used to, pushing, pulling and writhing your way to satisfaction, then perhaps a shopping mall is not the ideal location."

Microsoft confirms first Windows 7 zero-day bug

Microsoft confirms first Windows 7 zero-day bug - Network World: "Microsoft late on Friday confirmed that an unpatched vulnerability exists in Windows 7, but downplayed the problem, saying most users would be protected from attack by blocking two ports at the firewall."

Chrome's mission: Making Windows obsolete

Chrome's mission: Making Windows obsolete - Computerworld Blogs: "Some people are already convinced that Google will fail with its Chrome operating system. Others think that Chrome can't possibly be a threat to Windows. Both groups are so, so wrong."

Firefox: Heat and the CPU usage problem

Firefox: Heat and the CPU usage problem | Nanotech - The Circuits Blog - CNET News: "Firefox has a CPU usage issue and, consequently, can cause overheating problems in some laptops, particularly ultraportables. That's what I've found over the last couple of years."

Security pro says new SSL attack can hit many sites - authentication, exploits and vulnerabilities

Security pro says new SSL attack can hit many sites - authentication, exploits and vulnerabilities, security, ssl - CIO: "A Seattle computer security consultant says he's developed a new way to exploit a recently disclosed bug in the SSL protocol, used to secure communications on the Internet. The attack, while difficult to execute, could give attackers a very powerful phishing attack."

Watching the Retweeted Get Retweeted-er: Power User Secret Retweetist Love

Watching the Retweeted Get Retweeted-er: Power User Secret Retweetist Love - O'Reilly Radar: "When Twitter decided to slowly roll out a new, official retweeting feature, people waited in anticipation. When they let their users know what it might look like, people debated whether that was the right way to deploy it. When it actually became available, people almost universally disliked it."

How To Install, Edit, or Remove Cron Jobs in Batch Mode

How To Install, Edit, or Remove Cron Jobs in Batch Mode: "You can install, edit and remove crontab in batch mode as examples below. Also, refer to our 15 crontab examples."

How Programmers Slack Off

How Programmers Slack Off | Coding && Computer Tips Blog: "Well, this blog is not only about technical stuff. There will be some funny posts as well. To start off this section, i wouldn’t want to forget posting a great illustration found at the webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math and language website. What do programmers really do when they want to slack off a bit ?"

Polygon Modeling of a Handgun using Blender 3D 2.49

Polygon Modeling of a Handgun using Blender 3D 2.49: Part 1: "This article by Allan Brito guides you through the first steps of the modeling by using concept drawings to create a base model in Blender. The base model is very important to add details and upgrade the first flat surfaces into something more complex. This article tells us how to set up and configure a background image, and how to model and transform a mesh by using the background image as a guide. It also demonstrates the use of various tools such as Edge Loop tool, Face Loop Cut tool, and 3D Cursor as a tool."

The 7 Signs of a Leader - A Must Read

The 7 Signs of a Leader - A Must Read: "We all need leaders in our lives: mentors, people to look up to, people that simply get it. Leaders inspire us, help us accomplish our dreams, and teach by example. Leaders make us better people and give us an ideal to strive for."

Google PC will start in seven seconds or less

UPDATE 3-Google PC will start in seven seconds or less | Reuters: "New Google Inc (GOOG.O) software will start up a computer as fast as a television can be turned on, the search company said on Thursday as it showed off its Chrome operating system designed for PCs that do their work on the Web."

AOL to Cut Work Force by a Third

AOL to Cut Work Force by a Third - WSJ.com: "Former Internet Titan to Slash Work Force by a Third as It Breaks Off From Time Warner"

Mastering Grub 2 The Easy Way

Mastering Grub 2 The Easy Way – Make Tech Easier: "If you’re running Linux, there’s a good chance your distro of choice uses Grub as the default bootloader. Grub has served well for many years, but it’s beginning to show its age. As with all software, it doesn’t take long before the latest-and-greatest becomes old-and-haggard. Features have been piling up in Grub without much thought going into revamping the core program. Eventually, this lead to a messy patchwork that no one really wanted to maintain. At this point, Grub2 was born. It’s a complete rewrite from the ground up using a completely redesigned structure. This new Grub gives us powerful features like conditional statements (if/then, etc), intelligent upgrades, and some greatly improved graphics."

MP3s Sounds Good To Me

Sounds Good To Me - TrustedReviews - TrustedReviews: "OK. What debate? For the vast majority of people, there's nothing contentious about the subject of digital audio file formats. On the one hand, we have MP3; popularly enshrined as the standard digital audio file format to the extent that it's become practically synonymous with downloaded music. Look at any mention of an iPod or Walkman in the mainstream media, and they'll still describe it as an MP3 Player, whether or not it's actually used to play MP3s. With DRM-Free MP3 the format of choice for download services from Amazon, Play and 7digital, it's a format on the rise, not on the wane. On the other hand, we have AAC. Whether you love Apple or hate Apple, AAC remains the default choice - and sometimes the only choice - for the millions who buy into the company's iPod line, its iTunes media player or its iTunes Online store."

Silicon Sweatshops

Apple News | Supply Chain Management: "Despite strict 'codes of conduct,' labor rights violations are the norm at factories making the world's favorite high-tech gadgets."

Computer consoles 'no better' than books for learning

BBC News - Computer consoles 'no better' than books for learning: "The claim that computer games consoles can improve pupils' maths ability has been dismissed by an Edinburgh University brain scientist."

Twitter’s One Million Dollar Stylesheet

Twitter’s One Million Dollar Stylesheet: "At a recent party conversation brought up iPhone applications and Twitter (ok, perhaps ‘party’ is used lightly here). Tweetie, Twitterific, TweetDeck, TwitBird (interestingly just labeled “Twitter” in the app store), Twittelator Pro and Echofon are all paid iPhone apps ranging from $1-$5 USD (and all have been in the top 20 paid social networking apps in the app store this week)."

Why organizations don’t use Python?

Programming Language FAQ: Why organizations don’t use Python?: "By organizations, I don't mean Google, IBM or any such organizations. I am talking about the general organization. If we scan through the classified page, advertisements and others they all look for Java/ .NET/ C# programmers. What is the thing, which is keeping Python off the list?"

DIY Camera Axe 3.0

Hobby Robotics » Camera Axe 3.0: "The Camera Axe is a tool for photographers to trigger cameras or flashes based on signals from various sensors. In this version there are two ports for sensors such as a microphone, a motion detector, or light sensor; and there are two ports for camera/flash devices. The Camera Axe is useful for stop motion photography where an action happens too quickly for human reflexes (photographing a popping balloon, lightning, or a milk droplet splash). Other uses can be to catch things photographers don’t want to wait around for such as birds flying to a bird feeder or surveillance of people walking down a hallway. The possibilities are endless. The hardware and firmware for this device are all open source under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License meaning that it’s possible to adapt this platform for specialized uses."

Seven Ways to Create More Time In Your Day

Seven Ways to Create More Time In Your Day: "Do you ever feel like you have way too much time on your hands, and far too little work and life to fit into it? Unless you're a teen on summer break, I reckon it's unlikely! Most of us would love to have an extra couple of hours in each day. With two more hours, we could find time to exercise, to read some of the books that are gathering dust on our shelves, to spend time with the kids..."

Rolling Out Your Own HTML Application Version Control

Rolling Out Your Own HTML Application Version Control: "During the last few weeks, we've been exploring the world of HTML Applications (HTAs), which are a Microsoft creation that promises to bridge the gap between traditional desktop applications and browser-based ones. In the last article, entitled 'Mixing Scripting Languages', we saw how HTAs come with powerful capabilities that are not available to normal web pages, including database, file system, and even registry access! Now it's time to explore how to exploit some of these capabilities using VBScript. We'll be putting the rubber to the road as we roll out an HTML Application (HTA) version control strategy."

Solid Twitter Tips To Help You Get Started

Twitip.com – Solid Twitter Tips To Help You Get Started: "The point is, Twitter can be quite the tool to get your proverbial head around. When things are tough, it’s nice to have a little help. It’s for that reason that a blog like Twitip.com comes in handy. Twitip.com shares tips about how to Twitter. In fact, that’s what the name means: Twit-tip."

Should I switch to Python?

“Should I switch to Python?” | Programming for Scientists: "Rich has recently been considering switching to the Python programming language. Currently, Matlab is the language of choice in his department for rapid development and prototyping of code. It’s very good at this, but Mathworks (the company who produces Matlab) have been tinkering with the licencing terms, leading to hassles where none should exist. This is very frustrating and leads to the thought that it might be nice to use a free language where this will no longer be an issue.

But of course things are not quite that straightforward. Matlab is used for good reason – it’s very good at what it does. So is it worth the effort to stop using Matlab and instead learn to use Python? In this article we discuss some of the things that’ll need to be considered."

How to Set Up and Run a Bicycle Repair Company

The Oil Drum: Campfire | How to Set Up and Run a Bicycle Repair Company: "This essay offers respite to all the people who confront our collective energy problems with a furrowed brow and an expression that is puzzled by the continuous stream of theoretical insights that explain our current circumstances. This essay confronts our collective energy problems in more practical terms - with an adjustable spanner and a puncture repair kit at the very least."

Truly Geeky Gadgets: 15 USB Weapons From FAIL To Fantastic

Truly Geeky Gadgets: 15 USB Weapons From FAIL To Fantastic | Art & Design on WebUrbanist: "We geeks love our gadgets. We get bored with simple office instant messaging to co-workers. We get creative. But of course our creativity ties back into our computers and a USB port. It started with ninja-geeks and weapon-shaped USB flash drives. However, that was not enough to spice things up around the office. The USB arms race began and sneaky office warfare has never been the same. Some USB weapons are fun to shoot at your office buddy, but some are used to strike fear in your cubicle neighbor’s heart. Guard your office, guard your room, guard your computer. Here are 17 USB “weapons” made by geeks for geeks, from FAIL to fantastic."

Is the new wave of low-cost ultraportables a threat to netbooks?

Is the new wave of low-cost ultraportables a threat to netbooks? | Royal Pingdom: "It used to be that you’d pay a significant price premium for a slim ultraportable laptop – machines that were smaller and lighter than typical 5-6lb laptops. In the days before netbooks, they were really your only option for getting a thin and light laptop. But now that netbooks have carved out a segment of cheap and portable computers in the $200-$500 range, the ultraportables needed to adapt as well."

The American Psyche: Tipping Toward Solitude?

The American Psyche: Tipping Toward Solitude? | Psychology Today: "I live in the most ordinary American household - I live alone. Knock on any door in the nation and you are more likely to find a household like mine than a household with mom, dad, and the kids, or a household with a married couple and no kids, or a single-parent household, or any other kind."

Unix bc Command Line Calculator in Batch Mode

Unix bc Command Line Calculator in Batch Mode: "You may be using bc command in command line for calculations. It can also be used for batch mode calculations as explained below."

Robotic Submarine Running Debian Wins International Competition

Debian -- News -- Robotic Submarine Running Debian Wins International Competition: "This August, a team of 35 undergraduate students from Cornell University sank the competition at the 12th annual Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition, sponsored by the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International and the Office of Naval Research. The competition takes place in a large acoustic testing pool operated by the US Navy SPAWAR Systems Center. It calls for entries to pass through a gate, follow a path, ram a submerged buoy, fire through a square target with small torpedoes, drop markers into bins containing simulated targets, recover a PVC target and surface through an octagon shape, all without human intervention. The Cornell Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Team (CUAUV) took first place by completing the entire course at the competition, a feat not seen since MIT won in 2002. This was Cornell's first victory since 2003."

The All-Inclusive All-You-Can-Eat Buffet Guide

The All-Inclusive All-You-Can-Eat Buffet Guide « Eating The Road: "This is the definitive guide to becoming a seasoned all-you-can-eat buffeter. If you would like to gain knowledge of each and every aspect that lay between you and getting the most fulfilling meal possible you have come to the right place. You will learn with specific techniques the dos and don’ts that every professional smorgasbord eater must adhere to. Within these tough economic times it is important to make sure our dollar stretches as far as possible. This surely will help the pocket book and keep your belly full. The sections covered are as follows:"

Flintstones Garden Scissors

YouTube - Piranha-bite test: "I'm sure it would chop off a finger just like that too..."

FREE NASA App for iPhone

MethodShop: NASA App for iPhone: "Good news space nerds. NASA just released an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The application is available free of charge in the iTunes App Store.

The new NASA app collects, customizes and delivers an extensive selection of dynamically updated information, images and videos from various online NASA sources. It will also deliver a wealth of information, videos, images and news updates about future NASA missions."

5 Easy Steps to Create a Flowchart Using Dia

5 Easy Steps to Create a Flowchart Using Dia: "Dia is a GTK+ based multi-platform diagram creation program. Dia is similar to the Visio program for Windows."

Ceate Incredible Looking Hair Effects with Particles in Blender

Ceate Incredible Looking Hair Effects with Particles in Blender - Cgtuts+: "In this multi-part, video tutorial about Blender's Hair Particles System, we will learn some very useful options to use when trying to create cool or convincing hair effects. We will also add colour to the hair, light the scene, add a few compositing nodes, and finally set the particle system as a softbody so we can animate it."

A tiny cloud in Android

A tiny cloud in Android: "Cloud computing minimally requires two components: the client software that runs on the portable device and the server software that normally runs on a network server. This article proposes creating an Android-based service that emulates a network server that enhances the value of the local machine in unique and unexpected ways. Put a tiny cloud in your Android handset and experience the usefulness of a local Web server."

Make Spacecraft Fly and Shoot with Special Effects using Blender 3D 2.49

Make Spacecraft Fly and Shoot with Special Effects using Blender 3D 2.49: "In this article by Allan Brito, we will see how to use some special effects to put our spacecraft in outer space and even make both weapons shoot! All these effects are created with a mix of particles and composition nodes that generate the effects in a very short time. Both techniques and tools help a lot in this project, and can be used in other 3D modeling and rendering projects as well. It adds even more elements and visual aids to our project in order to bring more realism to the scene."

How to Read a Barcode

Read a Barcode - Wired How-To Wiki: "Why are barcodes so cryptic? Those little graphics found on the packages, composed of straight thin and bold lines, are the universal way to keep track of inventory. It stands to figure that these things have got to be useful, if only you can crack the code. Well, you can."

Researcher busts into Twitter via SSL reneg hole

Researcher busts into Twitter via SSL reneg hole • The Register: "A Turkish grad student has devised a serious, real-world attack on Twitter that targeted a recently discovered vulnerability in the secure sockets layer protocol."

4 tips for upgrading your customized packaged applications

4 tips for upgrading your customized packaged applications - Computerworld Blogs: "Too often the Buy vs. Build argument gets turned on its head – enterprises buy a packaged solution to save money, but end up spending more customizing it to fit their business' needs. When I say packaged here I am referring to things like ERPs, CRMs and even newer SaaS based applications. Customizing packaged apps is expensive since you often need proprietary skills and knowledge to make any changes. It gets even more expensive when it comes time to upgrade and many of those customizations need to be refactored or rewritten."

CNN reporter detained in Shanghai over Obama-Mao T-shirt

AFP: CNN reporter detained in Shanghai over Obama-Mao T-shirt: "A CNN correspondent said Monday she was detained byChinese security guards in Shanghai for two hours for displaying a T-shirt on camera depicting US President Barack Obama as Mao Zedong."

Young inventor dreams up a gadget to see off insomnia

Young inventor dreams up a gadget to see off insomnia - mirror.co.uk: "A device to help people sleep goes on sale today, thanks to a young inventor's restless nights."

Seeing Without Sight

Seeing Without Sight | Psychology Today: "Neuroscientists used to think that vision is organized in a simple, hierarchical fashion. The brain's first-stop visual processing center was thought to receive an exact duplicate (in neural terms) of light patterns that fall on the retina of the eye. Then, through a series of steps involving ever-higher processing centers, the brain was thought to integrate discrete bits of information on angle, line, form, orientation, and hue until a conclusion could be drawn. For instance, the brain might receive neural signals that coded for red, round, shiny, and solid and then subsequently combine that information into recognition of an apple. In accordance with that 'bottom-up' model, the brain's first input center for visual information was aptly named V1. Higher visual processing centers were named V2, V3, and so on."

World's first iPhone worm Rickrolls angry fanbois

World's first iPhone worm Rickrolls angry fanbois • The Register: "iPhone owners in Australia awoke this weekend to find their devices targeted by self-replicating attacks that display an image of 1980s heart throb Rick Astley that's not easily removed."

Scott Holden's Tauntaun Costume

Scott Holden's Tauntaun Costume: "The following is Scott Holden's tale of building a 'Luke Skywalker on a tauntaun' costume. For anyone who doesn't know, this is an animal Luke Skywalker rode in Empire Strikes Back."

A look at the fastest supercomputer in the world

A look at the fastest supercomputer in the world | Royal Pingdom: "Twice a year, the world’s top 500 supercomputers are announced. The most recent winner is the Jaguar which pretty much wiped the floor with the competition, managing a performance benchmark 69% above the IBM Roadrunner which came in second.

Let’s take a closer look at the Jaguar, the fastest supercomputer in the world today."

The Simple, Ridiculously Useful Guide to Earning a Living from Your Passion

The Simple, Ridiculously Useful Guide to Earning a Living from Your Passion: "So you have your passion picked out? Here’s how to turn it into a living."

Incorporate a Service Level Agreement into a Creative Commons license

Incorporate a Service Level Agreement into a Creative Commons license: "Get examples of Service Level Agreement (SLA) values you can add to your applications and exceptions you can include in your SLAs. Take advantage of these techniques to make your intended usage clearer to people who use and mash up your application under a Creative Commons (CC) license."

Project : Ring Light

MetkuMods - Because you love your hardware!: "When taking close-up photos, the lighting can become a problem. The good old flash works most of the time but usually it leaves nasty shadows that do not go well with the photo. There are couple of solutions to this problem; a second flash to remove the shadows and light the scene more evenly or to use a ring light that surrounds the target object with uniform light from every direction."

Arduino + Processing: Make a Radar Screen to Visualise Sensor Data from SRF-05 – Part 2: Visualising the Data

Arduino + Processing: Make a Radar Screen to Visualise Sensor Data from SRF-05 – Part 2: Visualising the Data | Lucky Larry: "This is where all the work is done to read an interpret the values from the servo and the sensor. If the readings are to erratic then you won’t have nice shapes. Also if you don’t allow enough time to the signals to be sent back then you’ll get false distance readings. So this code is only as good as your Arduino code and sensor setup."

Is it OK to use OEM Windows on your own PC? Don't ask Microsoft

Is it OK to use OEM Windows on your own PC? Don't ask Microsoft | Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com: "If Microsoft expects its customers to take license agreements seriously, it has a responsibility to communicate the terms of those agreements to its customers clearly and unambiguously. As I noted earlier this month, Microsoft does a generally poor job of explaining its complicated rules for how Windows licensing works. But I deliberately left one type of Windows license off that list, because it deserves its own special place in the Corporate Communications Hall of Shame."

Symantec Uncovers Trojan Scheme Using Facebook

Symantec Uncovers Trojan Scheme Using Facebook: "The Trojan malware, known to Symantec as Whitewell, is being spread via e-mail through 'documents (PDF, or MS Office formats) containing exploits for known vulnerabilities,' Andrea Lelli, a security analyst with Symantec Security Response, wrote on a Symantec blog Oct. 31. The malware works by contacting the mobile version of Facebook and using its Notes section. By analyzing the Trojan's code, Lelli found that the Trojan will perform four different actions, depending on the notes' titles that are found."

Simple Motor Optical Encoder

Simple Motor Optical Encoder: "There are many different types of motor encoders out there. Most common is an encoder that attaches to the back of the DC motor. Today we'll be looking at an encoder attached to the mechanics and not simply the motor. There is no real benefit to doing things this way other than, it's easier and uses bottom-line cheap parts you can buy at radio shack."

Create your own customized Ubuntu Live CD

Create your own customized Ubuntu Live CD: "Here on Ghacks I have mentioned a few tools that allow you to create various types of Linux CDs. Most of these tools allow you to create Live CDs that are either images of your current working distribution or tools to create a Live CD with special packages. But none of these tools, so far, have allowed you to really get customized with your Live CD. You can’t specify desktop backgrounds or other configuration options. These are tasks that can really make creating a customized Live CD worth the effort."

Fortran Hello World Example: How To Write and Execute Fortran Program on Linux OS

Fortran Hello World Example: How To Write and Execute Fortran Program on Linux OS: "In this article, let us review very quickly how to write a basic Hello World Fortran program and execute *.f program on Linux or Unix OS."

Singin' in the Wane

Singin' in the Wane | Psychology Today: "Gratifying delusions (like that we're in touch with 'reality') are so addictive, we tend to hang onto them no matter what they cost us."

How to Download a Whole Website Using Wget

How to Download a Whole Website Using Wget | Coding && Computer Tips Blog: "I remember that back in the days that i started to learn more about the different linux/unix tools, i was fascinated by the great wget http downloader. Believe me, you will end up using this one quite a lot, even just for means of running a cron to update a website or for some more interesting stuff, like downloading a whole website."

LEGOs Bring Historical Figures to (Miniature Toy) Life

LEGOs Bring Historical Figures to (Miniature Toy) Life | WebUrbanist: "ach historical “minifig”, as these LEGO creations are called, had to be made only from official LEGO elements for the contest – hence, Spencer explains, the “Conan O’Brien hair” seen on many of them, and the Harry Potter scar on John Lennon’s forehead."

How to Create a Dancing Particle Effect using 3ds Max and Thinking Particles

How to Create a Dancing Particle Effect using 3ds Max and Thinking Particles - Cgtuts+: "In this intermediate level tutorial you will learn how to create an interesting 'dancing' particle effect using 3ds Max and Thinking Particles. You also will be able to choreograph the animation to your audio track by creating an animated map using AfterEffects."

How To Focus On What Truly Matters

How To Focus On What Truly Matters: "In my life I’ve gone through periods of intense, driven productivity – months where everything fell into place, and my goals almost seemed to accomplish themselves. At the other extreme, there have been times in my life where I was completely overwhelmed, burdened by my different projects and responsibilities – and frustrated because so many of them not only challenged me, but didn’t matter to me. There were days when I asked myself how did I end up here? How did I end up working on all these things that aren’t who I am, and that don’t represent where I am going?"