Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Shop That Built Batpod Replica Now Selling 5 (Street Legal) TRON Lightcycles On eBay
Shop That Built Batpod Replica Now Selling 5 (Street Legal) TRON Lightcycles On eBay: "the Parker Brothers team is building 5 custom one off 'Lightcycles' to the exact specs of the movie bikes. Each bike will be black with an accent color - 5 bikes with 5 different accent colors (red, blue, yellow, green, and orange). There will only be one bike made per color so if you must have a certain color...Disney designers built a 'movie prop' of this bike for the TRON Legacy promotions and not a running version so these will be the only known running versions to exist. The engineering behind a fully functional version is mindboggling to say the least."
Using Internet data in Android applications
Using Internet data in Android applications: "Many of your Android applications will need to interact with Internet data, which comes in a variety of formats. In this article, build an Android application that works with two popular data formats—XML and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)—as well as the more exotic protocol buffers format from Google. You'll learn about the performance and coding trade-offs associated with each format."
Why do we (love to) hate Microsoft?
Why do we (love to) hate Microsoft?: "Tired of the endless 'but what have you done for us lately?' comments that follow Microsoft's every move, no matter how successful, communications head Frank Shaw rounded up some fun statistics to underline the fact that Microsoft is still the heart of the PC industry and the PC industry is still the heart of mainstream computing. My personal favourite is the snide but true comment that Salesforce's CEO Marc Benioff can't make it through a single public announcement without mentioning Microsoft; Microsoft might be late to the cloud (if you can be late to a technology that's still nascent) but it's growing faster than rivals."
Building the world's most advanced aircraft carrier (photos)
Building the world's most advanced aircraft carrier (photos): "The keel for this new giant was laid in September 2009, and it is expected to move from drydock to water in July 2013. The new carrier is both named the Gerald R. Ford and is the first Gerald R. Ford class of aircraft carrier. It breaks new technological ground for the Navy because it has a new power plant design, a brand-new Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, and a reduced weight and flexible infrastructure enabling the addition of new technology down the line."
Keep Your Files in Sync With SpiderOak
Keep Your Files in Sync With SpiderOak: "There are a myriad of online file storage, backup, and sync services on the Web. Some of them are specific to particular devices, such as the Asus EeePc. Others are tailored for specific operating systems, like Windows or Ubuntu. Then, there are some that work well with all kinds of devices and OSes and keep them in sync. SpiderOak is one such service."
Quick Tip: Creating Custom Marking Menus in Maya
Quick Tip: Creating Custom Marking Menus in Maya: "Whether created for a specific project or even if you’ve had the same ones for years, marking menus form an essential part of the Maya interface. In this time-saving quick tip tutorial, Pratik Gulati will be walking us through how to create our own marking menus from scratch in Maya 2009."
Where Twitter’s next big boost is coming from
Where Twitter’s next big boost is coming from: "That Twitter has been expanding well outside the borders of the United States is well known. It’s becoming a global social media phenomenon and much of its growth is currently coming from this international expansion. We thought it would be interesting to investigate where Twitter is growing the fastest right now."
Teaching Kids to "Cheat"
Teaching Kids to "Cheat": "I read an article a few weeks ago about all the ways kids cheat in school. I was prepared for a long list of terrible transgressions. About halfway through the list, I started to laugh out loud. I realized that almost all of the prohibited actions, such as getting help from other students and looking up material online, are things I require my students to do! As an educator who focuses on teaching students about innovation and entrepreneurship, I spend my time encouraging students how to find creative solutions to problems."
What Should Be In Every Designer’s Portfolio (but probably isn’t)
What Should Be In Every Designer’s Portfolio (but probably isn’t): "In this article, Harrison Ambs shares his thoughts on the pitfalls involved with being a designer, 3D or otherwise, and gives some excellent advice on making your portfolio stand out from the crowd. A must-read for anyone looking to make a living from their love of design."
Population Growth Must Stop
Population Growth Must Stop: "Earth’s population is approaching seven billion at the same time that resource limits and environmental degradation are becoming more apparent every day. Rich nations have long assured poor nations that they, too, would one day be rich and that their rates of population growth would decline, but it is no longer clear that this will occur for most of today’s poor nations."
Having Enough Energy to Chase Your Passions – Outside Your Day Job
Having Enough Energy to Chase Your Passions – Outside Your Day Job: "You might dream of quitting your day job. Perhaps you want to be an artist, or a musician, or travel the world, or do volunteer work, or any number of other things. You might have a particular passion or keen interest – but the catch is, you still need to pay the rent."
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Introducing Seven Popular Open Source Projects for .NET Developers
Introducing Seven Popular Open Source Projects for .NET Developers: "Despite the considerable time and resources Microsoft and the .NET community have invested in open source initiatives in recent years, it's surprising how often the two camps are treated as antithetical to one another. Yet the reality is that reliance upon open source development tools within the Microsoft community is significant and growing. In this article we'll shed some insight into this widespread practice, introducing seven open source solutions embraced by millions of .NET developers around the globe."
Sony PSP Homebrew Back On Track
Sony PSP Homebrew Back On Track: "Recently, numerous exploits have been discovered in several games. The latest one has spawned an e-loader which allows unsigned code to be executed. Currently in the early stages of developement, this e-loader has been tested and confirmed working with simple homebrew titles. No emulators yet though but these are sure to come….."
'Second Life' Creator Linden Lab Cuts Staff By 30 Percent
'Second Life' Creator Linden Lab Cuts Staff By 30 Percent: "Linden Lab, the company behind the 3D virtual world Second Life, announced this week that it will cut its staff by 30 percent."
Cisco to launch tablet-style computer
Cisco to launch tablet-style computer: "Cisco Systems yesterday announced that it is to launch a tablet-style computer aimed at big businesses in an early attempt to combine the consumer appeal of Apple's iPad with the functional needs of the corporate market."
Visual Storytelling: The Little Prince and Our New Embedded Charts
Visual Storytelling: The Little Prince and Our New Embedded Charts: "As the team responsible for Google’s Chart Tools, we continuously think about how to enrich your options for visual storytelling on the web. To be able to generate figures like the one above, we thought it will be cool to enhance the Image Chart API with the capability to draw TeX formulas and plot mathematical functions. Once we added these capabilities, we thought it would be even more useful to combine the two into one chart, and therefore developed a simple way to place one chart within another chart. This chart embedding is not just limited to formulas and equations; it can be applied to any combination of chart types."
Connect Your Favorite Text Editor to Google Docs Using GoogleCL
Connect Your Favorite Text Editor to Google Docs Using GoogleCL: "You can put Google's command-line tools (GoogleCL) to all kinds of clever uses from publishing blog posts to accessing and editing Google Docs documents using your favorite text editor. The latter can come in handy if you want to quickly modify the existing document, bypassing Google Docs' interface and the browser altogether."
Top 10 CSS Tools for the Design-challenged Web Developer
Top 10 CSS Tools for the Design-challenged Web Developer: "Part of getting older is realizing that certain talents in life simply do not come naturally. For instance, one talent in which I am particularly deficient is design. Whether drawing a picture, playing with Lego's, or even signing my own name with a flourish, the task is generally a frustrating, fruitless process. Yet Web design is an inescapable part of being a Web developer, often requiring the developer to be involved throughout the process."
Anger mounts over offshore drilling moratorium
Anger mounts over offshore drilling moratorium: "Anger mounted in Louisiana over a moratorium imposed on offshore drilling as President Barack Obama toured the oil spill disaster zone Monday vowing to protect the Gulf way of life."
Monday, June 28, 2010
The State of the Internet Operating System
The State of the Internet Operating System: "I've been talking for years about 'the internet operating system', but I realized I've never written an extended post to define what I think it is, where it is going, and the choices we face. This is that missing post. Here you will see the underlying beliefs about the future that are guiding my publishing program as well as the rationale behind conferences I organize like the Web 2.0 Summit and Web 2.0 Expo, the Where 2.0 Conference, and even the Gov 2.0 Summit and Gov 2.0 Expo."
Film - Surely It’s 30 (Don’t Call Me Shirley!)
Film - Surely It’s 30 (Don’t Call Me Shirley!): "WHEN the creators of “Airplane!” were lining up actors for their rollicking parody three decades ago, some of the straight-arrow character actors that ended up in the cast worried about the harm it might do to their careers. One of the most skittish participants: Peter Graves, the taciturn “Mission: Impossible” star who played the movie’s pilot, a kindly veteran who welcomes a little boy named Billy into the cockpit and asks questions like “Ever seen a grown man naked?”"
The bright side of wrong
The bright side of wrong: "Our tendency to err is also what makes us smart. Here's what we'd gain from embracing it"
Various client-server communication mechanisms in an Ajax-based web application
Various client-server communication mechanisms in an Ajax-based web application: "A key part of any Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax)-based web application is the communication layer between the client and the server. To implement this layer, you need to understand the various communication mechanisms that browsers provide, as well as each mechanism's pros and cons. In this article, learn to make the correct match between the specific communication needs of an application and the appropriate mechanism. Detailed examples show you how to create a communication layer that can meet these different client-server communication needs."
Hidden Logos: 12 Creative Designs with Secret Symbols
Hidden Logos: 12 Creative Designs with Secret Symbols: "A logo is a company’s most visible piece of visual branding, stamped on everything from billboards to promotional pens. But sometimes, you can stare at a familiar design again and again before noticing small but delightful hidden symbols, meaning and even messages. From binary code to the clever combination of interlocking shapes, these 12 logos pack in a little something extra."
Debian vs. Ubuntu: Contrasting Philosophies
Debian vs. Ubuntu: Contrasting Philosophies: "Debian and Ubuntu are distributions that lend themselves naturally to comparison. Not only is Ubuntu a continuing fork of Debian, but many of its developers also work on Debian."
Peppermint, a web-centric linux os
Peppermint, a web-centric linux os: "Kendall Weaver is the lead developer of Peppermint Linux, a free software OS based on Ubuntu and Weaver's work on Linux Mint. He was struck by the divide between bloatware desktops and lighter cloud-based OSs that weren't offering the format he was looking for."
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Geekologie Reader Helps Build Millennium Falcon Play Fort For Make-A-Wish Foundation
Geekologie Reader Helps Build Millennium Falcon Play Fort For Make-A-Wish Foundation: "Geekologie Reader Brandon of Little Mountain Productions recently helped build this Millennium Falcon play-fort topper for 9-year old Christian as part of a Make-A-Wish Foundation wish-granting. Good lookin', guys."
Robo-Baywatch: Autonomously Patrolling Robot Lifeguard Swims at 28 MPH
Robo-Baywatch: Autonomously Patrolling Robot Lifeguard Swims at 28 MPH : "You’re caught by the ocean’s riptide, exhausted and barely keeping your head above water. Then your unlikely hero appears: a four-foot-long talking buoy. It’s EMILY, the robot lifeguard. Grab on, and it can bring you safely back to shore."
Friendly Vending Machine Dispenses Cans With a Smile
Friendly Vending Machine Dispenses Cans With a Smile: "Vending machines might keep us fed and caffeinated when we’re away from home, but they’re not exactly friendly, are they? They just sit there, waiting for you to do all of the work of choosing between the delicious choices. From a design perspective, the interaction patterns required for using a traditional vending machine are nowhere near pleasant for the human user. Industrial designer Guus Baggermans decided that something had to be done, so he created a friendly vending machine that would interact pleasantly with human users."
Has the G-20 doomed the recovery?
Has the G-20 doomed the recovery?: "So they've gone and done it. Even though the G-20 called the recovery “uneven and fragile” in the final declaration from its weekend confab in Toronto, the advanced economies also pledged to at least halve fiscal deficits by 2013 and stabilize or reduce government debt-to-GDP ratios by 2016."
Renting a Car? RTFM: Read the fine manual
Renting a Car? RTFM: Read the fine manual: "With no direct flights from Edmonton to Salt Lake City and not willing to spend half a day in airports or 36 hours to get there via Aeroplan, we decided it might be fun and easier on my back to rent a full-sized new car and take a little adventure. Jenn and Jenna at Hertz Edmonton fixed us up with a super deal on a 2010 Chevrolet Impala LT that not only offered us unlimited mileage, but also easily allowed us to cross the border into the US."
Developing for IBM i: Why Does It Need To Be So Hard?
Developing for IBM i: Why Does It Need To Be So Hard?: "There is something wonderful about being a computer programmer. Maybe it's the ability to see a problem with our computing experience and be able to fix it, in the same way a mechanic can see a problem with his car and repair it. We can be dissatisfied with our computers and do something about it."
Bilski and Software Patents: A Programmers Perspective
Bilski and Software Patents: A Programmers Perspective: "Unlike many of the visitors and contributors on this site, I am not a lawyer. I am a programmer who found this blog while chasing links across the Internet looking for information on software patents and what has now become one of the most anticipated Supreme Court decisions ever; Bilski v. Kappos. That was almost eight months ago at a time when I held what is probably a common view of software patents among programmers. Specifically, that they are immoral, unfair, and restrictive to innovation and creativity. I have since found that things are not as black and white as they appear and I’d like to share with you the problems as I see them, from a programmer’s point of view."
Build a web-based notification tool with XMPP
Build a web-based notification tool with XMPP: "Real-time web applications are networked applications, with web-based user interfaces, that display Internet information as soon as it's published. Examples include social news aggregators and monitoring tools that continually update themselves with data from an external source. In this tutorial, you will create Pingstream, a small notification tool that uses PHP and JavaScript to communicate over the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP), a set of XML technologies designed to support presence and real-time-communications functionality."
Your APPLE product kills people in Congo, learn more here...
Your APPLE product kills people in Congo, learn more here...: "Hello, I'm a Mac, and I'm helping fuel the war in the Congo -- the deadliest war in the world. So are PCs, cell phones, digital cameras and other electronics. That's what Apple's famous ads don't tell you. So actor/activist Brooke Smith and cinematographer Steven Lubensky teamed up with actors Joshua Malina and John Lehr to create a version that sets the record straight."
AT-AT DAY AFTERNOON
AT-AT DAY AFTERNOON: "When I was a kid, there are two things I wanted badly and never got... A real dog and a Kenner AT-AT Walker."
Eating Healthfully- A Long Term Vision
Eating Healthfully- A Long Term Vision: "It is a shame that so many people are obsessed with fad diets in order to quickly shed pounds and reach their desired weight. And yes extreme dieting of any form does work in the short terms but only for the weight to rebound back on and the body to regain its original weight or the weight it is comfortable at."
6 Cool Startpages That Can Make You More Productive
6 Cool Startpages That Can Make You More Productive: "The purpose of a startpage is to save you time by making the best use of that first browser window you open when you are starting the day."
HUGE list of scripts for zmud
HUGE list of scripts for zmud: "Thought I'd post this, after looking through and cleaning up my files, I found this and thought it would be of help to old and new players using zmud. Since this has been put together over the years, I'm sorry for not being able to give credit for all of it, but some of it is what I've written, most of it is from others and there are places where you can see where I've copied it from. Hope this helps."
How to keep Wall Street under control
How to keep Wall Street under control: "As the new financial regulatory overhaul makes its way through Congress, we've been thinking a lot about Jay, our boss and mentor at the Interactivity Foundation, who passed away last year at 95. If he were alive, he no doubt would be disappointed in the reactionary approach to banking reform being debated today."
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Hard to port! Eject Goose, eject!
Hard to port! Eject Goose, eject!: "An Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle patroled the launch area as the Space Shuttle Atlantis roared into space on its final flight in May. Check out the shadow of the plume on the ground!"
Camouflage Photography in the Animal World: 50 Astonishing Photos
Camouflage Photography in the Animal World: 50 Astonishing Photos: "Some animals have sharp teeth, some have fragile wings, some are predators, some chew on grass, but they all need to survive. Even if harder to believe, some carnivores can be extinct pretty fast, if they don’t find an “intelligent” method of hunting."
Cat survives microwave, tumble dryer and freezer ordeal!
Cat survives microwave, tumble dryer and freezer ordeal!: "A young boy's cat that was cooked in a microwave, then stuffed in a tumble dryer and freezer at the hands of thugs has managed to survive."
Apple to Costumers: We are right you are wrong!
Apple to Costumers: We are right you are wrong!: "Multiple Apple- and gadget-focused websites are receiving reports that the iPhone’s much-discussed “Retina Display” is susceptible to a yellow discoloration, either as a thin line of yellow or as a circular tint."
Skinput Turns Any Bodily Surface Into a Touch Interface
Skinput Turns Any Bodily Surface Into a Touch Interface: "The future of touchscreen interfaces is: you? A project between a Carnegie Mellon researcher and a couple of creative thinkers over at Microsoft Research have created Skinput, a Bluetooth-enabled device that allows you to use your own skin as a peripheral input device for devices like cell phones, MP3 players or gaming consoles."
Querious - MySQL Database Tool
Querious - MySQL Database Tool: "Querious is a MySQL database management application written from the ground up for Mac OS X. Unlike mindless Mac OS X ports of applications originally made for Windows or Linux, Querious works the way you'd naturally expect it to as a Mac OS X app. Querious is precise and easy to understand, giving you full control without getting in your way."
$240 High Res Rail SAR
$240 High Res Rail SAR: "Using a discarded garage door opener, an old cordless drill, and a collection of surplus microwave parts, a high resolution X-band linear rail synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging system was developed for approximately $240 material cost."
Was Venus once a habitable planet?
Was Venus once a habitable planet?: "ESA’s Venus Express is helping planetary scientists investigate whether Venus once had oceans. If it did, it may even have begun its existence as a habitable planet similar to Earth."
Chase Shows How To Play It Safe (When It Comes To Protecting Data)
Chase Shows How To Play It Safe (When It Comes To Protecting Data): "Have you ever wondered what happens to those little raw files in big shoots? I mean, big scale productions gotta worry more than simply unloading the card, importing to light room and get a good night sleep."
Working Hard Is not Enough. Here's 18 Ways to Work Smart
Working Hard Is not Enough. Here's 18 Ways to Work Smart: "All of us work hard in life - there is no doubt about it. We work hard in our jobs so we can excel at work. We work hard to maintain our relationships. We work hard so we can achieve the best results in our life."
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
My Four-Year-Old Son Plays Grand Theft Auto
My Four-Year-Old Son Plays Grand Theft Auto: "Gaming has been a part of my sons’ life since the moment he was born, so I was not surprised when he showed an interest in video games as early as the age of two. I started him off where I began my gaming career: the original Nintendo Entertainment System. He built up his hand-eye coordination and took the bridge out from under Bowser in no time. Then, one day, he got a glimpse of me playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and asked if he could play. What happened next was quite the eye-opener."
BBC - Adam Curtis Blog: BP AND THE AXIS OF EVIL
BBC - Adam Curtis Blog: BP AND THE AXIS OF EVIL: "BP is accused of destroying the wildlife and coastline of America, but if you look back into history you find that BP did something even worse to America."
Review: Futurama returns to Comedy Central
Review: Futurama returns to Comedy Centra "As 'Family Guy' did when Fox resurrected it three years after canceling that show (Fox canceled a lot of comedies in the early '00s that the network would probably like back now), we open with a few jokes about the long time off and the new regular home on cable. (After a trip through a well-traveled wormhole causes Professor Farnsworth to laugh, he says, 'It's sort of a comedy central channel.') There are probably too many of those jokes, especially since the movies (the last of which ended on a cliffhanger that tomorrow's first episode resolves) means it hasn't been that long since Fry (Billy West), Leela (Katey Sagal), Bender (John DiMaggio) and company have been featured in original adventures on television, and on this channel in particular."
How to Make Movie Torches
How to Make Movie Torches: "Wielded in scenes with angry mobs, where characters are lost in a jungle or a cave, or to light the streets of period films, torches add a unique sense of light and mood to a movie. If you are an emerging filmmaker and need to create working torches for your movie, long-lasting flames can be made with the use of rubbing alcohol as a fuel. Torches should be made and used only after taking fire-safety precautions."
Eight Ways to Make Good Use of Your Spare Minutes Online
Eight Ways to Make Good Use of Your Spare Minutes Online: "I bet you have a few spare minutes (or a fair bit more) online every day. Perhaps you end up surfing webcomics while you’re waiting for a big file to download, or maybe you’re browsing online in between phone calls, or during a lull in an instant messaging conversation. Whatever it is, you have a few minutes going spare … and you’re not doing anything productive during them."
Viacom Loses To YouTube In Landmark Copyright Case
Viacom Loses To YouTube In Landmark Copyright Case: "A federal judge handed Google Inc. a major victory Wednesday by rebuffing media company Viacom Inc.'s attempt to collect more than $1 billion in damages for the alleged copyright abuses of Google's popular YouTube service."
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Drunk and depressed at Harry Potter's Wizarding World
Drunk and depressed at Harry Potter's Wizarding World: "Florida's new J.K. Rowling-inspired theme park should be the happiest place on earth. Why am I so miserable?"
All’s Fair in Love and Soccer
All’s Fair in Love and Soccer: "Cheating and working the refs are part of what make the beautiful game fun to watch."
Aluminum Fabrication
Aluminum Fabrication: "I get order of one off all aluminum Toyota 2000GT
I want show up this big project to you."
I want show up this big project to you."
The Strangest Pictures I Have Seen #4
The Strangest Pictures I Have Seen #4 : "Another thing I learned at the NCS meeting is that a lot of old comic strips survive due to oft-inexplicable pockets of popularity abroad. The Phantom may run in fewer than six papers in the U.S., but he’s huge in Australia and India. The Katzenjammer Kids survive thanks to enduring success in Europe. Mort Walker’s Beetle Bailey is, of course, one of the staples of the American newspaper page, but it’s even more popular in Scandinavian countries. Why? I don’t know. Ask Scandinavia."
When Animals Strike - Deer Attack
When Animals Strike - Deer Attack: "It's sweet vengence for Bambi as a hunter is mauled by an enraged deer in this once-in-a-lifetime footage."
Working @Disney
Working @Disney: "So I suppose I should start this post by explaining the unposted 'Disney Experience' post I discussed a few months back. I wrote about 3 versions of the post and just never found the balance of honesty and tact that I wanted. I either said too much that was unnecessary, or not enough to give a true flavor of my experience at the studio. That being said I'll try to sum it up this way. I believe any studio should be at least these three things (but particularly Disney):"
Kids Think Food Tastes Better From Cartoon-Decorated Packages, Study Finds
Kids Think Food Tastes Better From Cartoon-Decorated Packages, Study Finds: "Study Finds Junk-Food Marketing Changes the Tastes of Kids as Young as Age 4"
Compact Camera Hacks
Compact Camera Hacks: "I'm about to embark on an epic (for me at least) hiking expedition, and, in the name of minimising pack weight, my SLR is staying at home and my compact camera is coming out to play. BUT one thing I was potentially going to miss was the ability to use a polarising filter (most compact cameras have no ability to mount filters on them and my Canon Ixus 900Ti is no exception). I wanted to find a way to hold a filter in front of the my compact's lens in such a way as to: eliminate reflection from the rear of the filter; ensure the holder avoided blocking any of the sensors on the front of the camera, and; still be able to rotate the filter (a key requirement for using a polarising filter)."
Monday, June 21, 2010
Is Google far too much in love with engineering?
Is Google far too much in love with engineering?: "It's nice if a pilot has a background in flying. It's really quite special if a colonoscopist has a background in medicine. But does everyone who heads up a department at Google really need to have a background in engineering?"
8 Linux-based Live CD/DVD and USB Distros For All Occasions - PublicIP Zone, Knoppix, Linux LiveCD Router, Backtrack
8 Linux-based Live CD/DVD and USB Distros For All Occasions - PublicIP Zone, Knoppix, Linux LiveCD Router, Backtrack: "If you're new to the Linux or open source community, you might not have heard of live disc or USB distributions yet. They let you run a operating system on PCs without installing anything on the hard drive. It loads directly from the CD/DVD disc or USB flash drive. Many full Linux desktop distros, such as Ubuntu, can be ran in this live mode. However, there are also live distros created for a wide-variety of other specific applications and solutions. Here we'll review several of these. Let's get started!"
Adobe moves mobile Flash from rhetoric to reality
Adobe moves mobile Flash from rhetoric to reality: "After enduring months of scorn from Apple, Adobe Systems is set to begin a major effort to claim some of the mobile computing initiative for itself starting Monday night."
18 amazing Star Wars sand sculptures
18 amazing Star Wars sand sculptures: "Summer's just around the corner, so what better time to share some of the most awesome Star Wars sand sculptures ever created?"
GOAL! Twitter Traffic Spikes With World Cup Goals
GOAL! Twitter Traffic Spikes With World Cup Goals: "The social networking site is seeing huge traffic when a big goal is scored in the soccer tournament. Though Twitter normally sees about 750 tweets per second on an average day, there were 2,940 tweets per second, then a record, after Japan scored against Cameroon on Monday."
NetBeans Language Panorama : Erlang, Lisp, Scala, Python and Prolog
NetBeans Language Panorama : Erlang, Lisp, Scala, Python and Prolog: "Here are five dynamic languages that have support in NetBeans. You are probably familiar with the fact that NetBeans provides support for a large number of languages - Java, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, Groovy, C, C++, JavaFX, Fortran and others but here are five languages that you may not have know that have NetBeans implementations -"
Googling from the Command Line with GoogleCL
Googling from the Command Line with GoogleCL: "Attention geeks: As if it wasn't fun enough to type various commands into any of Google's Web services, the search giant has just unveiled a new tool that gives you even more flexibility to run Google-based queries and actions without even having to load up a browser at all."
Restart a Frozen iPod or iPhone
Restart a Frozen iPod or iPhone: "Occasionally an iPod or iPhone may freeze or fail to respond to your commands. This can happen for a number of reasons and does not necessarily indicate a serious problem. Sometimes they just need a restart much like the way your computer needs a reset once in a while."
How To Become a Millionaire In Three Years
How To Become a Millionaire In Three Years: "This was originally a comment made in response to a hacker news thread titled: Ask HN: How to become a millionaire in 3 years? . The comment has over 200 upvotes, which means people found it useful. I decided to add more thoughts, refine existing ones, and put it in a permanent place. This is just my own humble advice and I hope it’s useful for entrepreneurs."
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Managing Your Email Campaigns with phpList
Managing Your Email Campaigns with phpList: "The popular email campaign manager phpList is open source, free to download and easy to use. The company Tincan is the commercial sponsor behind phpList, which comes in two forms: a hosted solution or a download that you can set up yourself on your server. If you don't want to go through the hassles of setting up and managing the system, you should go for the hosted solution (starting at US$5 per month)."
Mickey Mouse Becomes A Speed Dealer
Mickey Mouse Becomes A Speed Dealer: "The following comic book ‘Mickey Mouse and the Medicine Man’ was released by Disney in 1951. In the strip, Mickey and Goofy discover a new medicine called ‘Peppo’ that represents amphetamine (speed). Their enthusiasm for the chemical pick-me-up leads them to become salesman for the product in Africa:"
Scenes from the Gulf of Mexico
Scenes from the Gulf of Mexico: "Based on recently revised estimates, BP's ruptured oil well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico continues to leak 25,000 to 30,000 barrels of oil a day. The new figures suggest that an amount of oil equivalent to the Exxon Valdez disaster could still be flowing into the Gulf of Mexico every 8 to 10 days. Despite apparent efforts to restrict journalists from accessing affected areas, stories, video and photographs continue to emerge. Collected here are recent photographs of oil-affected wildlife, people and shorelines around the Gulf of Mexico on this, the 51st day after the initial explosion."
11 Creative Ways to Avoid Becoming a Workaholic
11 Creative Ways to Avoid Becoming a Workaholic: "Our culture celebrates workaholism. We hear stories of people who “burn the mid-night oil” at the office, or about individuals who never take vacations. Working a lot doesn’t mean you deserve a gold star or a raise."
Boyfriend set on fire...
Boyfriend set on fire...: "Jealous girl goes cuckoo cuckoo in the head over boyfriend."
Toy Story 3 Easter Eggs
Toy Story 3 Easter Eggs: "If you haven’t seen the film, be warned that this article references and scenes from the film which may be considered spoilers. I’ve tried to keep plot details out of this or vague. All of the screenshots were compiled through trailers, commercials and the batch of clips that Pixar has released to promote the movie (I’m sure there are many more easter eggs hidden in the 80% of the movie not online). Enjoy!"
Finding a cure for 'copy and paste'
Finding a cure for 'copy and paste' : "It's not surprising that time-starved language students reach for the web to copy other people's work, but introducing more creative writing tasks can help them rely on their own skills and avoid the copy-and-paste function"
PyFilesystem 0.3 released
PyFilesystem 0.3 released: "I am pleased to announce a new version of PyFilesystem (0.3), which is a Python module that provides a common interface to many kinds of filesystem. Basically it provides a way of working with files and directories that is exactly the same, regardless of how and where the file information is stored. Even if you don't plan on working with anything other than the files and directories on your hard-drive, PyFilesystem can simplify your code and reduce the potential of error."
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Adult Fans of Lego: Earliest enthusiasts come of age and keep right on building
Adult Fans of Lego: Earliest enthusiasts come of age and keep right on building: "'The possibilities are endless,' says Piccirillo, now 26 and running a business in Phoenix that organizes after-school Lego clubs. 'You can go anywhere you want with it.'"
Five tips for improving Linux security
Five tips for improving Linux security: "Protecting a networked computer is a never-ending challenge — even in Linux. These simple measures from TechRepublic’s Five Tips blog will help protect your Linux box. The advice is timely given the hubbub over Linux security."
17 computer geek jokes and truisms
17 computer geek jokes and truisms: "We computer geeks are a breed of our own, and as with any group of people with mutual references, we often make jokes and observations that are totally incomprehensible to outsiders."
7 Pieces of Wisdom from Socrates
7 Pieces of Wisdom from Socrates: "Through Plato’s writing (primarily) we’ve come to comprehend the depth of Socrates’ wisdom. Today I want to discuss seven life lessons based on the teachings of Socrates. Socrates said, “I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them think.” This article was written to make you think. He said, “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” Let his words, kindle your flame."
Why an Ubuntu Tablet Won’t Sell
Why an Ubuntu Tablet Won’t Sell: "Canonical recently announced that they are developing a tablet version of their popular Ubuntu operating system, slated to be released in 2011. This comes hot on the heels of the release of the Apple iPad, and the rumors that HP plans to release a WebOS-based tablet sometime late 2010. However, Canonical’s foray into the tablet arena is fundamentally different from both the iPad and a WebOS tablet, and unfortunately reeks of a company failing to learn from their competitors successes and failures. Here are four reasons why an Ubuntu tablet simply won’t work."
The developer obsession with code names, 114 interesting examples
The developer obsession with code names, 114 interesting examples: "Code names have been around for a long time. Remember the Manhattan project in the 1940s? That turned out to be the atomic bomb. Thankfully, not all code names hide such sinister projects."
How to Perform Encrypted Google Searches From Firefox and Google Chrome
How to Perform Encrypted Google Searches From Firefox and Google Chrome: "Quite some days back, Google introduced encrypted Google searches. The concept of encryption comes into play when Internet services use secure socket layers, better known as SSL connections to encrypt the information that travels between your computer and their service."
This Is the Sharpest Deep Space Picture Ever Taken From Earth
This Is the Sharpest Deep Space Picture Ever Taken From Earth: "The secret to the LBT's amazing star-gazing is its new adaptive optics system that compensates for atmospheric distortions. A secondary mirror, just .06 inches thin, can be subtly manipulated into different shapes to correct incoming light that's been bent by the atmosphere. The mirror can make adjustments accurate to ten nanometers every thousandth of a second. With those constant corrections, the LBT's 27.6-foot mirrors can get a clear shot into the cosmos."
William Li: Can we eat to starve cancer?
William Li: Can we eat to starve cancer?: "William Li presents a new way to think about treating cancer and other diseases: anti-angiogenesis, preventing the growth of blood vessels that feed a tumor. The crucial first (and best) step: Eating cancer-fighting foods that cut off the supply lines and beat cancer at its own game."
No Strobes, No Light Stands, No Modifiers, No Problem!
No Strobes, No Light Stands, No Modifiers, No Problem!: "With fluorescents of course. waintaminute! Fluorescents? Aren't those the things that make green harsh hideous light? Well depends. Netherlands photographer Ragoem Vakfotografie shows just what can be done with just a couple of those lengthy lights."
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
NetBeans IDE 6.9 Now Available for Download!
NetBeans IDE 6.9 Now Available for Download!: "NetBeans IDE 6.9 introduces the JavaFX Composer, a visual layout tool for building JavaFX GUI applications, similar to the Swing GUI builder for Java SE applications. With the JavaFX Composer, developers can quickly build, visually edit, and debug Rich Internet Applications (RIA) and bind components to various data sources, including Web services."
FBI searches home of iPad 3G hacker
FBI searches home of iPad 3G hacker: "The FBI Wednesday searched the home of one of the alleged hackers who breached AT&T's website, capturing 114,000 e-mail addresses of Apple iPad 3G customers, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal."
Comparing the Lakers with cartoon characters
Comparing the Lakers with cartoon characters: "The image of Boston guard Nate Robinson jumping on Glen Davis' back will forever remain in Celtics lore. It signifies the Celtics' bench effort in their Game 4 NBA Finals victory over the Lakers. It showcases the slobber running down Davis' mouth. And it illustrates the close relationship between the two Celtics' reserves, which Robinson later compared with Shrek and Donkey, saying,'You can't separate us.'"
Touch Down Jesus statue razed by lightning in Ohio
Touch Down Jesus statue razed by lightning in Ohio: "It had stood at the non-denominational Solid Rock Church in Monroe since 2004, and had been dubbed the Touchdown Jesus and the Quicksand Jesus."
German throws puppy at Hells Angels bikers then flees on bulldozer
German throws puppy at Hells Angels bikers then flees on bulldozer: "A German student created a major traffic jam in Bavaria when he made a rude gesture at a group of Hells Angels, hurled a puppy at them and then escaped on a stolen bulldozer."
A tour of Eclipse Helios
A tour of Eclipse Helios: "Find out what's new in the latest simultaneous release from Eclipse"
Produce 60-second radio theatre with XML, PHP and Festival
Produce 60-second radio theatre with XML, PHP and Festival: "Produce and record a 60-second theatre sound play using XML, PHP, and Festival, and provide stage directions, inject sound effects, and control dialogue flow, with a cast of dynamically allocated Festival voices."
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
BP Plans to Buy Oil-Cleanup Machines from Kevin Costner
BP Plans to Buy Oil-Cleanup Machines from Kevin Costner: "BP plans to purchase 32 centrifugal oil-and-water separators built by a company backed by Kevin Costner, the actor's business partner told the Los Angeles Times."
Ozzy Osbourne's Genetic Code Being Mapped - The Early Show - CBS News
Ozzy Osbourne's Genetic Code Being Mapped: "Scientists Trying to Figure Out How He Survived Decades of Drug, Alcohol Abuse"
Turn Your (Rooted) Android Device into a WiFi Hotspot with Wireless Tether
Turn Your (Rooted) Android Device into a WiFi Hotspot with Wireless Tether: "There are two ways to turn your Android phone into a mobile wireless hotspot: you can either buy a device running Android 2.2 Froyo, or you can root your current Android phone and install the Wireless Tether application."
The 6 best investing ideas you've never heard of
The 6 best investing ideas you've never heard of: "Sure, you want to keep your investing as simple as possible. So you invest steadily and hold fast to some simple but time-honored strategies: Keep your focus on the long term. Subtract your age from 110 (or maybe 100) and hold that percentage in stocks. Diversify as much as you can. Rebalance your portfolio on a regular basis."
Choose to Spend Time on High Impact Activities
Choose to Spend Time on High Impact Activities: "As somebody with ADHD and an attention span of about 2 hours, I’m forced to continually understand my own productivity habits. As I study those habits, I realize more and more why the people of the world waste so much time."
PSP: I'm not dead yet
PSP: I'm not dead yet: "It was hard not to be reminded of Monty Python's famous sketch when Sony took the stage Tuesday during its E3 press conference, assuring the public that the PSP platform was still alive, kicking, and very much a viable platform. The company is right, to a degree: millions still play PSP games and own systems, and the platform is far from a failure. On the other hand, the PSP has still never materialized into the superior do-everything portable Sony once dreamed of it becoming."
North Korea training in public gym
North Korea training in public gym: "Watch North Korea's national football team training in a public gym in their warm up for the FIFA World Cup 2010."
60 Hot World Cup Soccer Fans (Pics)
60 Hot World Cup Soccer Fans (Pics): "he World Cup is finally upon us this week (officially starting Friday) and you know what that means, right? Non-soccer fans, who are only watching because it's a patriot's duty to, hoping the cameras can pan away from the game as often as possible to get a nice, long look at hotties like these. I'd say a 60/40 split between scanning the crowd for babes and soccer action would suffice. What do you think? There should at least be a peek into the crowd before every throw-in, free kicks, corners, and during injuries."
Self-styled Rambo American – ‘I’m here to behead Bin Laden’
Self-styled Rambo American – ‘I’m here to behead Bin Laden’ : "An American armed with a pistol, a dagger and a 40-inch sword claimed he was on a solo mission to kill Osama Bin Laden after being arrested in Pakistan."
Dark energy may not exist in space, scientists claim
Dark energy may not exist in space, scientists claim: "Dark matter and energy, the mysterious forces thought to make up 96 per cent of the universe, may not exist according to a groundbreaking study."
Automatically Generate Maps and Directions with Google Apps Script
Automatically Generate Maps and Directions with Google Apps Script: "Following up on our recent post about the new Doc List capability in Google Apps Script, we thought we’d take a moment to look a little more closely at another new feature in Apps Script - integration with Google Maps. Google Maps has had an API for quite some time, but now we’ve made it very easy to generate customized maps and driving directions straight from a script."
Monday, June 14, 2010
Star Wars from Atari to Intellivision
Star Wars from Atari to Intellivision: "We recap the last 27 years of video games based on George Lucas's enormously influential Star Wars franchise"
The Secret Of Monkey Island: SE Reviewed
The Secret Of Monkey Island: SE Reviewed: "Appletell has posted a new review of The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition from LucasArts and Aspyr Media. The game is a 'reimagining' of the original 1990 title, updated with contemporary art, remastered music, full voiceover, and a new hint system. Appletel"
Python Language Upgrade Slithers Toward Final Release
Python Language Upgrade Slithers Toward Final Release: "Python 2.7, the last in the legacy Python 2.x dynamic language line, moved closer to general availability earlier this month when developers of the language put out a release candidate."
Vuvuzela Filter using Fedora
Vuvuzela Filter using Fedora: "If you, like me, like to watch the world cup in South Africa but hate the monotonous sound of the so called Vuvuzelas this post is for you."
Vuvuzela noise filter app for Mac OS X -
Vuvuzela noise filter app for Mac OS X -: "The vuvuzelas are certainly the most controversial theme of the 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa. With a loudness of up to 120 db(A) and thousands of them used during the world cup games, they sound like a a swarm of monster wasps. It does not only make it nearly impossible for the soccer players to communicate acoustically on the playing field but does also annoy many fans who want to enjoy the world cup all over the world through television."
Ajax library smackdown: Dojo versus YUI
Ajax library smackdown: Dojo versus YUI: "Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax) is everywhere, from the local newspaper to sites that CEOs surf. Contrary to popular belief, it isn't rocket science, especially with the right library. Explore the popular Yahoo! User Interface (YUI) and Dojo libraries, and learn how they can simplify typical Ajax techniques and make JavaScript easier to work with. Discover why you should use a library in the first place and how to choose among libraries. Get some specific examples from YUI and Dojo, as well."
Web Storage API: More Security, Efficiency and Capacity than Cookies
Web Storage API: More Security, Efficiency and Capacity than Cookies: "This article introduces the Web Storage API and explains how it enables storing data in a more secure and efficient way than cookies."