Deep Thoughts in a shallow pond

Colbourne School for Sale

2011-11-20T14:23:00.000-05:00

An interesting opportunity to own a whole school, including your own gym!

13k sq-ft. 5+ acres with a playground. Fire alarms!

All this for under $400k and less than 1 hour to Toronto (without traffic, of course)

Quinte and District Association of REALTORS® Inc.: "Excellent building built in 1961. A one storey brick and stone trimmed building with a central hall plan. Features are a gym, large play area, paved road, parking & driveways, new water well installed in 1999-boiler replaced in 2000-life safety upgrades completed in 2007. Roofing replaced in 1992 and 1995. Area of the building is 12839.5 sq ft. Yard size is 5.06 acres. The property is located on a large flat hill top, it has magnificent view of the surrounding country side. Property is being sold as is."

'via Blog this'

Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular: a cognitive teardown of the user experience

2011-11-04T18:26:00.000-05:00

Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular: a cognitive teardown of the user experience: "To summarize, in the context of Angry Birds, success is bound up in slowing down that which could be fast, erasing that which is easily renewable, and making visual that which is mysterious and memorable."

'via Blog this'

Steve Jobs' Final Words Revealed By Biological Sister | Fox News

2011-10-30T18:55:00.001-05:00

“Fashion is what seems beautiful now but looks ugly later; art can be ugly at first but it becomes beautiful later.”

Steve Jobs' Final Words Revealed By Biological Sister | Fox News

Steve Yegge - Google+ - Last week I accidentally posted an internal rant about…

2011-10-21T19:23:00.001-05:00

For those of you that are a bit verbose when writing up material for a presentation or business document, here’s a simple approach to make things more concise.

Here is how I prepared. Amazon people, take note. This will help you. I am dead serious.
To prepare a presentation for Jeff, first make damn sure you know everything there is to know about the subject. Then write a prose narrative explaining the problem and solution(s). Write it exactly the way you would write it for a leading professor or industry expert on the subject.
That is: assume he already knows everything about it. Assume he knows more than you do about it. Even if you have groundbreakingly original ideas in your material, just pretend it’s old hat for him. Write your prose in the succinct, direct, no-explanations way that you would write for a world-leading expert on the material.
You’re almost done. The last step before you’re ready to present to him is this: Delete every third paragraph.
Now you’re ready to present!

I left the 3rd paragraph in to prove Steve’s point. Does “Now you’re ready to present!” really need to be there? Or is it like Americanizing a movie ending, where the entire movie needs to be recapped to the audience who wasn’t smart enough to figure things out for themselves?

I like tips like these, they’re very easy to follow and can fit into your everyday email conversations too.

Steve Yegge - Google+ - Last week I accidentally posted an internal rant about…

Why Facebook open-sourced its datacenters

2011-04-18T12:36:00.000-05:00

Is Google really a search engine? Is Facebook a social networking site? An interesting article about Facebook’s new open-source datacenter architecture. Google isn’t really a search engine, it’s just a means to track eyeballs for marketers. Facebook isn’t really a social networking site, it’s a means to track everything about those eyeballs for marketers.

The idea that Google and Facebook are somehow competing with one another in the datacenter space may sound odd at first, given that most people are used to thinking of Google somewhat vaguely as an ad-supported software company. But as we're fond of pointing out, Google is essentially a maker of very capital-intensive, full-custom, warehouse-scale computers—a "hardware company," if you will. It monetizes those datacenters by keeping as many users as possible connected to them, and by serving ads to those users. To make this strategy work, it has to hire lots of software people, who can write the Internet-scale apps (search, mainly) that keep users connected and viewing ads. Since the price of Google ads is set largely independently of Google's cost of delivery, every dollar of efficiency that Google can wring out of one of these large computers is a dollar that goes to the bottom line.

Why Facebook open-sourced its datacenters

Why don’t we have the five-computer mentality of the past, with redundant parts and power systems, instead of thousands of commodity machines spinning away? Does the world really need more than 5 computers? Unlike the aforementioned article, a cluster of data centers is not a computer in my mind.

Perhaps we need a biological computer? By the definition above of a data center cluster being a computer, an assembly line could be considered a biological-mechanical computer. What if the assembly line was controlled by a small pond containing neurons? No more data center, no more power consumption, no more cooling issues.

Here’s to hoping they haven’t figured out how to get those neurons to multiply yet… sounds like The Matrix to me.

Top10.com » News » Apple reveals most popular iPhone & iPad apps of all-time

2011-01-20T23:19:00.001-05:00

My top iPad apps of 2010.

1. Real Solitaire HD – I’m $30k in the hole on that one.
2. Angry Birds HD – I’m $4.99 in the hole on that one.
3. Angry Birds Seasons – The CEO emailed me from Finland about how to unlock the additional levels.
4. Flipbook – Facebook & Twitter never looked so good.
5. BBC News – British news is so much better than Fox and CNN.
6. AP News – Short and sweet
7. CityTV – Community is the best show on TV.
8. Zumocast – Best streaming media server. I hear it’s going Android-only.
9. Any Piano App.
10. Pulse News – An alternate look to Flipbook.
11. Soundhound
12. Aweditorium

And in no particular order:

Groovemaker

And my son likes:

Glow Draw
Draw Stars

Rovio’s casual gaming sensation Angry Birds is the most downloaded paid-for app for the iPhone of all time, Apple has disclosed.

Top10.com » News » Apple reveals most popular iPhone & iPad apps of all-time

Movie Quotes - Subzin.com

2010-12-01T18:52:00.001-05:00

Find quotes from movies with this useful search engine.

in memory of Leslie Nielsen.

All Airplane quotes

Naked Gun

Movie Quotes - Subzin.com

Automatically Scrolling PDF

2010-10-01T14:32:00.001-05:00

CTRL-H to Reading Mode

CTRL-L to full Screen Mode

Shift-CTRL-H or View-Automatically Scroll provides a lazy way of reading a PDF.

Number keys change the speed of scrolling.

For added laziness, get an OCZ NIA and assign a couple number keys to it.

Adobe - Adobe Acrobat: Create PDF file, edit PDF file, convert PDF to word, convert PDF to doc

Website Mood Boards: A Successful Precursor to Visual Prototyping | 404 Creative

2010-09-30T11:57:00.001-05:00

How about asking 3-4 questions upon entering a web site, and then having the web site adjust its style to match your mood? Kind of like a choose your own adventure novel. (did you skip ahead on those things too?)

A mood board helps establish the branding, design components, typography, imagery, and color palettes that will be incorporated in the design. Much the way an interior designer will initially put together a swatch panel showing the fabrics and colors that will be used in designing a room, the mood board establishes the aesthetic direction of the site up front without negatively impacting the flow or structure of the site.

Website Mood Boards: A Successful Precursor to Visual Prototyping | 404 Creative

Could be the next step to social web sites…

Why not bring this into the real world and adjust lighting and sound in a club or bar to match the crowd’s mood? Kind of like those mood rings or hypercolor shirts…. but wireless and with extra intelligence.

Not sure why mood boards got me thinking about this… maybe sometimes colour and imagery speaks louder than words.

Sal Khan: Bill Gates' favorite teacher - Aug. 24, 2010

2010-09-23T09:50:00.001-05:00

Note to try these mini-lectures on the iPad.

FORTUNE -- Sal Khan, you can count Bill Gates as your newest fan. Gates is a voracious consumer of online education. This past spring a colleague at his small think tank, bgC3, e-mailed him about the nonprofit khanacademy.org,

Sal Khan: Bill Gates' favorite teacher - Aug. 24, 2010

Analyzing art by the brush stroke

2010-02-10T21:15:00.002-05:00

Scan in an image of a drawing or painting. Determine the colours in use. Enhance the image. Analyze the path, density, length and style of brush or pen strokes and facial pattern recognition. Add the "textons" or patterns to a lexicograph catalog and scan for similarities. Search for identifying features that "watermark" the painting or sketch, like finger strokes or brush bristles that make it similar to other catalogued art. Sceptical yet?

Add further features to a scanner to detect the "depth" or pressure used in a brush or pen stroke. Analyze its chemical composition with a light non-intrusive spray mist, to determine the composition of chemicals paints used, and highlight materials or chemicals consistent with a certain time period.

Reverse or present a negative grayscale view of the image, to determine what "isn't" there, such as cracks or craquelure and features that are not part of the painting. Measure these features. Treat them like fingerprints that grow as the art ages.

Take it further and analyze the signatures of the scanned image. Wavelets. Pixel composition. Orientation and scale of the strokes.

Then use a 3D oil paint printer to spit the image back out, perhaps removing the age to reinvent the image.

The program determines whether a particular drawing is consistent with an artist's style. Until now, Rockmore has only tested his program on Bruegel drawings, but he says there is no reason it could not be used for other artists.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123405424

The original paper here.
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~rockmore/pnas-rev.pdf

How long before we go from just rendering an actor digitally on a computer screen to building an application that generates random Rembrandts? Or how about the Harry Potter Sequel Generator? What about automatically generating books "in the style of" an author, with programs that do more than just combining common phrases the author uses, but actually analyze patterns in the writing to formulate new plot lines and characters?

Give it 5 years or so... let's check back in 2015 once cloud computing, oData, GPU server farm hardware, 4d scanners and 3d printers mature.

Beej explains it best, as always.

Let me start off by saying, “Don’t do any of this yourself.” This is one of those topics where there are countless libraries already written for you with well-designed and well-tested code to do everything you want and more. It’s presented here because it fits criterion #1 for why you’d re-invent the wheel: you’re doing it because you want to learn more about it.

http://beej.us/blog/2010/01/digital-sound/

It's amazing that all of the techniques, software and hardware are already available to scan in and reproduce a near-perfect copy of a Great Masters artwork.

What's missing?

What was the artist thinking when the picture was created?

Truly, an artist's expression within their art is impossible to perfectly reproduce by another artist. Hence the ability to detect forgeries. The talent and expression of an artist is the true component that cannot be reproduced.

But, like compressed sound files, will people really care that the reproduction is missing things outside of their field of vision?

In my opinion, the original is still better than a reproduction when it comes to art.

What would you rather do, listen to a musician in your car or in an arena? Download art on your computer or visit a gallery? Looks at someone else's photos of a trip or actually visit the place yourself? Watch Avatar in IMAX 3D on a 72 foot screen or just Blu-ray on a 32" TV?

Drive a Lamborghini or a Tractorri?

That last one was a trick question. I'd take the Tractorri. Now that is art. Quite possibly the most disturbing art I have ever seen.

U of T research tops N.Y. Times' 2009 Ideas list - University of Toronto -- News@UofT

2010-02-09T11:39:00.001-05:00

Analyzing the books a person reads tells a lot about the person. In this case, reviewing what they write for patterns and trends tells even more.

The pair digitized 14 of her novels and used textual analysis software to determine the richness and size of the vocabulary used, as well as phrases often repeated and an increase in the use of indefinite words, an indicator of the disease.

U of T research tops N.Y. Times' 2009 Ideas list - University of Toronto -- News@UofT

This has interesting applications for those that want to understand more about cognitive studies and how writing displays the symptoms of physical issues.

The paper is here.

http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~ian/

Some of the software used is here.

http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/tact/

Microsoft is broken

2009-03-07T07:42:00.001-05:00

Or at least their OPML feed is. I have tried importing their MSDN feed into at least 5 different clients, including Google Reader and Internet Explorer, with no luck. Giving up on trying to catch up with MS developers for now...

What's an OPML feed? It's a way grouping a set of RSS feeds into a single package for importing/exporting. Don't ask what an RSS feed is...

Downloading the MSDN blogs OPML, with it's 8000+ feeds was never much useful anyhow, since it doesn't allow you to filter by language or search terms... however reading 50-100 feeds gets a pulse on what is happening at MS. Great crowd research. Since MiniMsft is not around what else is there? Silverlight, where did the buzz on that one go? PerformancePoint? Windows 98?

Well, I'm a couple years late finding about the expiry of Windows 98 support, though this is probably good news for Microsoft developers who have had to support the platform with non-breaking new releases. Now they can release breaking releases without fear of violating support agreements. I hear Windows 7 (Vista SP3) is smaller and better, though there are the usual driver support issues, and now red screens too.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! . I spent 2-4 h every night in last 4 months maing silverlight document editor. I drow tre roulers manualy, coded every single letter behavior and integrated control into framework throught System.Reflection so that user can add functionalty without coding throught admin wizard by connecting silverlight famework objects properties. And now my work goes to trash because Microsoft is about to realise this. Genaraly I like microsoft products, but sometimes they kill me.

That's about how I felt when I found out Microsoft PerformancePoint Planning was being displaced by.... nothing.

The activity of reading blogs seems to have been displaced recently by Twitter.

Dave Winer, the godfather of RSS, has an OPML Editor called TwitterCalendar that archives twitter posts for you and the people you follow.

I still haven't figured out what the need is to post a staccato version of my inner voice, links about Twitter, TGIF, and what I'm doing at any particular moment as a series of ADD one-liners. The 3 minute MTV generation is turning into the 15-second texting generation.

Pretty soon neuro-texting will be all the rage. Why not just upload your raw thoughts out to Amazon S3 for all to see? Just stay away from Facebook.

If I could get my OCZ NIA to do more than make Nomad hop around shooting randomly in Crysis, or if Emotiv decides to send me one of their EmotiveEPOCs, perhaps I could wire something up to Twitter...

source howstuffworkscom

Most of the messages would probably be aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaa and those suction cups would probably take some skin off but it's a start.

Anyway, if you feel that you want to capture a history of Twitter for fun or blackmail, perhaps Dave has the tool for you. Or maybe it's Chris Pirillo with The Easiest Way to Archive A Twitter Thread.

Apparently Robert Scoble, geek blogger, is broken too, even though he hasn't been at MS for awhile. I would think that not blogging for 2 weeks for him would be like MS not releasing a security patch on Patch Tuesday. Why on earth would you release a set of security patches on the Most Productive Day of the Week has always been a mystery to me. I hope they can do-away with the whole practice in Windows 7 and just start mailing out CDs like AOL used to do.

Scoble doesn't seem to twitter as much as I thought he would either.

When the President of the United States of America is the second-most followed person on Twitter, I think a twitterintervention is in order.

Pointing my rss reader to http://twitter.opml.org/calendar/ and waiting for my teeth fall out.

YouTube - Advanced Dungeons And Dragons For The Intellivision

2009-02-05T15:49:00.001-05:00

One of my favourite games of all time. The snake always made me jump.

Time to crack out my Intellivision...

OS Khang: Microsoft Is Ruining Music Now, Too

2009-01-22T22:01:00.001-05:00

This is horrible. How did MS Research end up building a karaoke music generator anyway? MySong comes to life as Songsmith.

Get back to business and leave the entertainment of the world to the XBox team guys.

My old Casio SK-8 keyboard did a way better job at accompaniment. Plus it could playback belches in different octaves. And it had that gunshot and ricochet sample.

The Metallica track does sound better than some of their more recent stuff, though.

Should have plugged some Soundfonts into the app instead of the cheesy 80s MIDI samples.

Everything needs more cowbell too.

OS Khang: Microsoft Is Ruining Music Now, Too

Book burning on the internet

2008-11-26T08:14:00.001-05:00

A 62 pound "velvet and marble" book would be pretty tough to burn, not that you should ever to burn a book, much less a $100,000 book on Michelangelo.

"I love books," Marilena Ferrari, the Italian publisher who produced the extravagance, said in a telephone interview from Bologna, Italy, where she's president of a company called FMR, which publishes fine books about art.

"Books are being destroyed by the Internet, they're losing their identity — it's the modern, Internet version of burning books," she said. "Today, things last so little before they disappear. "

Most expensive new book arrives in NY from Italy - Yahoo! News

UNESCO tracks the number of books published per year per country to measure "an important index of standard of living and education, and of the country's self-awareness."

It looks like Harry Potter has the US beat, in 2005 at least.

United Kingdom (2005) 206,000 ^[2]

United States (2005) 172,000 ^[2]

China (1994) 100,951 ^[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_published_per_country_per_year

If they included e-books or blogs in their count what would change?

New York Slideshows - Spoofing Shepard Fairey's Obama "Hope" Posters - Village Voice

2008-10-31T21:31:00.001-05:00

Get out and vote.

Image 14 of 26

New York Slideshows - Spoofing Shepard Fairey's Obama "Hope" Posters - Village Voice

I-Tech's Virtual Keyboard - A laser projected full-sized virtual QWERTY keyboard

2008-10-23T22:15:00.001-05:00

The $200 laser. Want.

I-Tech's Virtual Keyboard - A laser projected full-sized virtual QWERTY keyboard

Dark Roasted Blend: Castles That Will Inspire and Haunt You

2008-10-19T21:58:00.001-05:00

A few places worth a visit.

Dark Roasted Blend: Castles That Will Inspire and Haunt You

cat caused screen to flip upside down : screen, flip, upside, down

2008-10-07T00:45:00.001-05:00

icanhas CRT disaster. Sometimes I wish I had an Experts Exchange membership. Not very often though.

MY cat "Bandit " version 1.0 walked across my laptop keyboard and now the screen is upside down and I cant firgure out how to revert it to normal > I have tried to replicate the scenario by haveing him walk back over it to no avail

cat caused screen to flip upside down : screen, flip, upside, down

Windows software on Wakoopa

2008-10-02T09:54:00.001-05:00

Tracks installs of software and provides lists of what’s popular.

What should you have on your PC?

1. Firefox-

2. Windows Internet Exp...-

3. Google Chrome-

4. Windows Explorer-

5. Opera+1

6. Windows Live Messenger-1

7. Microsoft Office Out...+15

8. Microsoft Office Word-

9. Microsoft Office Excel+10

10. World of Warcraft-3

Windows software on Wakoopa

Needs More Cowbell

2008-09-11T19:19:00.001-05:00

This is just genius.


	Make your own at MoreCowbell.dj

LostCircuits, Tech Advice Guide

2008-09-10T12:44:00.001-05:00

A review of the OCZ along with a really interesting background on the device.

Being able to measure a brain transfer function led to the development and running of another research effort from 1986 to 1990. The transfer function output was used to control an F16 roll-axis flight simulator. It was hypothesized that the person might more effectively control the transfer function output if they were immersed in the tracking task. Control of the F16 roll axis was compelling. Tests were successful. People were able to successfully control the roll of the simulator using EEG signals from the back of their head. However, control was difficult to achieve and it was difficult to obtain the EEG measurements from the back of the head.

Dr. Junker left the US Air Force research labs and moved to the island of St. John in the Caribbean to undertake private research. He was living on a sailboat and decided to incorporate ideas he had previously discovered with a new approach that he developed in the aft cabin of his sailboat setup as a laboratory. The idea was to build an interface to control his sailboat as a proof of concept; this time using signals from his forehead detected using a headband with three sensors. This new approach became the foundation for the technology that became known as "Brainfingers".

LostCircuits, Tech Advice Guide

NIA Resources & Downloads - OCZ Forum

2008-09-10T12:41:00.001-05:00

From the OCZ Forum, tools for the OCZ NIA.

OCZ Tools

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/be_pagegen.php?id=tools

NIA Resources & Downloads

Official Drivers and Downloads:
Downloads Page: http://www.ocztechnology.com/drivers...ulse_Actuator/
1.009 Patch: http://www.ocztechnology.com/drivers...ta32_1.009.zip
1.007 Patch: http://www.ocztechnology.com/drivers...ta32_1.007.zip
1.007 CD Rip: http://www.ocztechnology.com/drivers...7_cd_image.zip
CD Rip from RyderOCZ - Unknown Version: http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/st...cz/nia/NIA.zip
---
Brainfingers Site:
Downloads Page: http://www.brainfingers.com/downloadNiaSoftware.htm
1.010 Patch: http://www.brainfingers.com/nia_driv...ta32_1.010.zip
1.009 Patch: http://www.brainfingers.com/nia_driv...ta32_1.009.zip
1.007 CD Rip: http://www.brainfingers.com/nia_driv...7_cd_image.zip
1.007 Patch: http://www.brainfingers.com/nia_driv...ta32_1.007.zip
---
Original Brainfingers Device:
Online Manual: http://www.brainfingers.com/cyberlink.htm
Downloads: http://www.brainfingers.com/downloads.htm
---
Reviews/Articles:
http://www.lostcircuits.com/advice/ocz_nia/
http://techreport.com/articles.x/14957
http://www.hothardware.com/Articles/...ter_Interface/
---
Practice Games:
TankHunter: http://www.javagameplay.com/tankHunterb.html
SkateGirl: http://www.brainfingers.com/skategirl_game.zip
Helicopter: http://www.addictinggames.com/helicopter.html
Addicting Games(Java/Flash): http://www.addictinggames.com/index.html
*** Latest Files are RED ***

__________________
-TFB
http://code.google.com/p/nia-remdreamer/

NIA Resources & Downloads - OCZ Forum

A visit to Casa Bonita restaurant in Denver - Boing Boing

2008-09-09T17:35:00.001-05:00

One attraction I’m kinda glad I missed in Denver.

A visit to Casa Bonita restaurant in Denver

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, September 8, 2008 1:49 PM | permalink

A visit to Casa Bonita restaurant in Denver - Boing Boing

popculture Tshirts and Tees - PleaseDressMe

2008-09-01T20:02:00.001-05:00

PleaseDressMe brings web 2.0 and t-shirts together...

popculture Tshirts and Tees - PleaseDressMe

» 30 Essential PDF Documents Every Designer Should Download :: Positive Space :: The Graphic Design Blog

2008-08-25T12:05:00.001-05:00

It’s actually 30+ documents, and some are actually templates… nonetheless very useful.

Well it took me a lot longer than I had originally expected but I was able to track down the original links to more than thirty PDF documents that I have collected over the past couple of years. I have personally archived every one of these files due to the high quality of content. No matter what you call them; ebook, white paper, or resource they all contain information that no designer should go without. (In actuality there are more than 30 files however it was a good round number for the title…)

» 30 Essential PDF Documents Every Designer Should Download :: Positive Space :: The Graphic Design Blog

I-CubeX Online Store - BioWave v1.2 : Skin surface voltage sensor

2008-08-06T12:14:00.001-05:00

Not the best marketing catch-phrase, and the price at > $500 US (not including the transmitter) gets blown away by the NIA, but this still sounds pretty cool.

We don't care what you think - this sensor is mind-boggling. Developed by the inventors of the renowned BioMuse, it captures EEG (brainwaves), EOG (eye movements) and facial EMG (muscle movements). Includes notch filter to reduce power grid noise (50 or 60 Hz). Here is the user guide. Use the BioWave with a wireless Wi-microSystem in all cases to operate conveniently without tether and ensure electrically safe operation (see application notes below).

I-CubeX Online Store - BioWave v1.2 : Skin surface voltage sensor

Infonec Computers - Computer parts Canada, PC Components, laptop computers, motherboards, processors, CPU’s and much more : OCZ NIA Brain Mouse - USB

2008-08-06T12:09:00.001-05:00

Infonec out of Markham has the NIA at a cash-discounted price of $149.00.

Is it worth it for 2-3 keys on an input device? Or should you just go for a Throttle Quadrant with 350 button positions at $125.00?

???

Regular price: $153.47. All listed prices are in Canadian fund and before taxes & shipping.

Infonec Computers - Computer parts Canada, PC Components, laptop computers, motherboards, processors, CPU’s and much more : OCZ NIA Brain Mouse - USB

Or go open-source?

http://biomusic.wikidot.com/usb-dux

http://openeeg.sourceforge.net/doc/

http://www.sensorwiki.org/index.php/Sensors#Biosignals

In terms of value for your money and the development effort gone into this, $149.00 seems like a steal.

OCZ NIA Brain-Computer Interface - HotHardware

2008-08-06T11:55:00.001-05:00

A very comprehensive review of the OCZ NIA. Should be interesting for daytraders and gamers alike, and those with repetitive keystroke jobs (enter key anyone?).

According to the article, a grounding strap might be a good add-on. And a sweatband.

And it isn’t going to replace the mouse just yet. Like the Dvorak keyboard, it might be more efficient, but if nobody knows how to use it the chances of mainstream adoption are going to be slim.

Overall, the NIA is no where near as convenient as traditional input methods. Often, a significant amount of preparation is required before using the NIA, although setup never took more than 2-5 minutes. We didn't feel the extra preparation was unbearable, but it does become a bit annoying when all you want to do is frag some people with your mind (and face and eyes).

OCZ NIA Brain-Computer Interface - HotHardware

Microsoft Flight Simulator - a knol by Felipe Bachian

2008-08-06T08:42:00.001-05:00

What’s a knol? It’s a new beta application from Google which allows you to be the “expert” on a subject and write an article. Similar to Wikipedia, though it focuses more on a single unit of knowledge (knol) rather than a comprehensive encyclopedia definition.

It is also a forum for advertising through creating articles for products or services (unless you are in Cuba, Iran, Burma (Myanmar), North Korea, Syria, or Sudan of course!)

Here’s a snippet from one knol.

Bruce Artwick developed the Flight Simulator program beginning in 1977 and his company, subLOGIC sold it for various personal computers. In 1982 Artwick's company licensed to Microsoft a version of Flight Simulator for the IBM PC, which was marketed as Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.00. Microsoft CEO Bill Gates was fascinated with Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Night Flight, which described the sensations of flying a small aircraft in great detail.

Microsoft Flight Simulator - a knol by Felipe Bachian

Product summary - NeuroSky

2008-07-31T11:40:00.001-05:00

Another Brain scanner, this one licensed by Sega.

Waiting for Apple to pick up on this one with a brainPod (thinkPod perhaps too close to IBM trademark).

Neurons that comprise the brain work on electrical impulses known as brainwaves. The last century of neurological research has demonstrated that brainwaves of different wavelengths can be indicative of unique emotional and mental states, like a focused awareness, a meditative state, or drowsiness. Brainwaves have been used in medical research and therapy for years. NeuroSky is introducing it to the consumer world.

NeuroSky Inc. has developed a non-invasive, dry, bio-sensor family of products that capture the electrical waves generated by neurological activity and eye movements and translate mental state information into digital signals for simple Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI). Our wearable technology unlocks worlds of new applications in consumer electronics, health, wellness, safety, education, training, market research and a host of many more.

Product summary - NeuroSky

Grey-Tech Computer Inc. Online Shopping - Product Listing - OCZ NIA

2008-07-27T09:36:00.001-05:00

Grey-Tech in Markham has the OCZ NIA.

Grey-Tech Computer Inc. Online Shopping - Product Listing

A Better Windows World Tools Library | NetworkWorld.com Community

2008-07-22T12:25:00.001-05:00

I’m a big fan of utilities, though I will probably be running them in a silo after my last hard drive crash. Here’s a bunch of good ones.

A Better Windows World Tools Library

Submitted by Ron Barrett on Fri, 07/11/2008 - 6:58am.

I cover a broad range of tools on A Better Windows World. So it makes sense to publish an index by tool name and category to make it easier for you to find the ones you need. Here is a list of the tools featured on my blog so far. Please bookmark this page. I will update it regularly. Enjoy

Tools by Name: A-Z
Amazon Kindle
Angry IP Scanner
ClamWin Portable
ClipTraining
Cobian Backup
Eraser
Exchange Best Practices Analyzer (ExBPA)
Filezilla Server
FOG
GIMP 2
GroundWork Monitor
H-Inventory
Hyena
Internet Explorer 8 Beta2
jNetStream
Joomla!
Juice
LifeRay
Magical Jelly Bean Key Finder
Microsoft Security Baseline Analyzer (MSBA)
Mremote
MS Sync Toy 2.0
NetStumbler
Numara's Track-IT
Open Office Portable
Paglo
Performance Point Server 2007
PsKill
R- Studio
ReactOS
Recover My Files
RSSOWL
Site Provisioning Assistant
Size Explorer
Skype
SQL Server Best Practices Analyzer (SQLBPA)
Thunderbird
ToolbarToggle
TrueCrypt
Wall Cooler VPN
WinAudit
Windows in a Box
Windows Meeting Space

Tools by Category

Security Tools
ClamWin Portable
Eraser
Exchange Best Practices Analyzer (ExBPA)
Microsoft Security Baseline Analyzer (MSBA)
SQL Server Best Practices Analyzer (SQLBPA)
TrueCrypt
Wall Cooler VPN

System or Network Management Tools
Angry IP Scanner
Cobian Backup
FOG
GroundWork Monitor
H-Inventory
Hyena
jNetStream
Magical Jelly Bean Key Finder
Mremote
NetStumbler
Numara's Track-IT
Paglo
PsKill
R- Studio
Recover My Files
Size Explorer
WinAudit

Enterprise Productivity Tools
Filezilla Server
Joomla!
LifeRay
Performance Point Server 2007
Site Provisioning Assistant

Personal Productivity Tools
GIMP 2
Internet Explorer 8 Beta2
Open Office Portable
ReactOS
Thunderbird
ToolbarToggle

Just for Fun
Amazon Kindle
Juice
MS Sync Toy 2.0
RSSOWL
Skype
Windows in a Box

Training & Collaboration
ClipTraining
Windows Meeting Space

A Better Windows World Tools Library | NetworkWorld.com Community

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) on Vimeo

2008-06-22T19:48:00.001-05:00

Matt's been busy over the last couple of years.

... he's still an inspiration...

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) on Vimeo

StatCounter Blog » Blog Archive » Outage - Explosion at The Planet

2008-06-15T16:50:00.001-05:00

How come more companies don't speak like this?

I’m not happy – how do I complain?
We completely understand why you feel aggrieved. Should you wish to submit a complaint to us please do so by logging into your StatCounter account and clicking the “support” link in the top menu bar. Within this area you will be able to submit a ticket to us – we will endeavour to respond to you as soon as possible.

StatCounter Blog » Blog Archive » Outage - Explosion at The Planet

StatCounter, a great service which I have been using for free for the last few years had an outage last week. For me it was a minor annoyance I chalked up to my ISP being down. Perhaps the 500 or so visits per month to this site took it down?

Apparently it was more serious - an explosion in a data center of a hosting provider they were using took out a few walls.

I bet if more companies promoted the "how do I complain" mentality, and were as candid as StatCounter, there would be a few less angry people complaining in the world. Most people just want a good, honest, explanation.

My father-in-law is on day 43 of working to get Bell Sympatico's High-Speed-Lite up again. After 2 technician trips, 3 replacement modems, and untold calls to India call centres his service keeps dropping every few minutes...

He is looking for another provider...

101 BEST WAYS TO EXPERIENCE CAMBODIA

2008-05-29T10:57:00.001-05:00

One of my goals is to someday visit Angkor Temple. Here are 100 other things to do.

2008-05-28 13:04:29 - Stay Another Day is an initiative by Mekong Private Sector Development Facility (IFC MPDF), a multi donor funded initiative manage by International Finance Cooperation, to reduce poverty through sustainable private sector development in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos PDR. Stay Another Day provides a briefly description about tourism activities in Cambodia, which is known as 101 things to do in Cambodia.
Most tourists consider Angkor Temple as a substantial destination, while they do not yet explore the other interesting thing to do in Cambodia. 101 Best ways to experience Cambodia will let you know and plan what to do if you aim to visit Cambodia, a charming kingdom. These activities possibly help to alleviate poverty in Cambodia through the sustainable tourism promotion.

101 BEST WAYS TO EXPERIENCE CAMBODIA

Extreme PC - OCZ NIA delayed

2008-05-26T14:18:00.001-05:00

Apparently there's another couple weeks to wait.

Our Price:
$175.50
Retail:
$175.50
Code:
XPC5989
In Stock:
Pre-order ETA Moved to: June 6th
Vendor:
OCZ Technologies
Rating:
unrated

Extreme PC

Move over Ironman - it's Fusionman

2008-05-15T06:56:00.001-05:00

That didn't take long. Ironman comes out and already jet-powered flying suits and wings are starting to crop up (in the news anyway - this one's been in the works for 5 years).

Only problem is getting off the ground -

you need a plane to take off.

Man soars above Alps with jet-powered wing - Yahoo! News Photos

It made Scoble cry...

2008-05-14T09:38:00.001-05:00

It just plain annoyed me at first. I made it all the way to 99%!

I guess it's the last 1% that's the hardest.

A refresh let me download the app.

My first impression? I like the vector graphics. Reminds me of Qix or Tron.

I clicked on the Interactive Tours icon.

What happened to "background transfers"? I lost control of the app as it was downloading.

After downloading a couple tours, my ears started bugging me due to the differences in recordings. Volume leveler would be good

The verdict?

Get it. It's free. Didn't make me cry but the amount of effort put into this app must have been enormous. It's an incredible learning tool.

WorldWide Telescope

I knew I should have bought the digital telescope I saw at that garage sale last week...

Hobnox - VST Online

2008-05-13T19:25:00.001-05:00

Hobnox is a flash-based beat composer and synching tool for the web. It has all the effects pedals of a studio application, but on the web.

Pretty impressive.

http://www.hobnox.com

Midway Home - When Worlds Collide

2008-04-26T21:51:00.001-05:00

One game I've got to get

Extreme PC has it

2008-04-25T17:13:00.001-05:00

Extreme PC has the OCZ NIA for preorder with a May 20, 2008 availability.

Priced in Canadian, it may be better value to order from the US.

Our Price:
$175.50

Retail:
$175.50

Code:
XPC5989

In Stock:
Pre-order ETA: May20th

Vendor:
OCZ Technologies

Rating:
unrated

Extreme PC

Where's the NIA?

2008-04-20T23:49:00.001-05:00

As of April 15, 2008, the NIA is still to be released... without an SDK either.

I'm sure somebody will figure out a way to hack something together. How about changing channels with your face, or preventing a nuclear disaster just by grimacing. Homer and his reaching broom would be proud.

Carl, at this point there is no SDK, the control console allows the mapping of different keyboard keystrokes to the various nia joysticks. The product will be released shortly and we have had almost more coverage in the media than we like including pretty good descriptions of how it works, all it takes is a Google search to find the relevant coverage. We are working with a number of third party companies already that have expressed interest in the nia, however, we prefer to have a bullet-proof product on the shelves before releasing the gory details. Likewise, as long as the software is still undergoing some changes, an SDK would not make sense.
As for Emotiv, they take a different approach than we do.

Neural Impulse Actuator (NIA)??? - OCZ Forum

Homer climbs the side of the ready to burst tank. He passes signs pointing to the "manual shutdown" switch. As the workers count off the last few Iroquois Twists, Homer struggles to reach the switch, only to fall and grab clutching at the catwalk above the tank. "Stupid switch!" he laments, "I wish I had my reaching broom! Wait a minute, there's probably a --" The tank explodes, venting green gas with great force. Homer falls screaming into the tank opening, his tremendous girth sealing the opening and ending the crisis. Later, all the employees gather to applaud Homer.

Burns: Homer, your bravery and quick thinking have turned a potential Chernobyl into a mere Three Mile Island. Bravo! [Places an award around Homer's neck.]

Lisa: I think it's ironic that Dad saved the day while a slimmer man would have fallen to his death.

Bart: And I think it's ironic that for once Dad's butt prevented the release of toxic gas --

Marge: Bart!

http://www.snpp.com/episodes/3F05.html

So what's the different approach?

Competitors

Emotiv has two main commercial-competitors in the area of consumer EEG technology for gaming- and PC-users. The competitors have gone for a lower price, but with much fewer electrodes and thus less detections.

OCZ has a $160 US Neural Impulse Actuator with 3 electrodes on the front of a headband. OCZ are hoping to gain market share by bringing their product out first (April, 2008). Unlike Emotiv, they are marketting it as a faster, more efficient way of controlling existing games and applications (mostly using facial expressions), instead of as a more immersive way of triggering magical abilities in games or making avatars show your facial expressions.

NeuroSky has a very cheap single electrode headset. However they are not marketting it directly to the public. They are selling their technology in bulk to other companies for those companies to incorporate into their products. Currently Neurosky's headset can only detect the strength of two emotions.

There is also an existing game machine table based on EEGs, called Mindball. Players must move a ball on the table by relaxing and not thinking, until the ball reaches the opponent's circle. The machine costs roughly $20,000 US and is usually rented out to groups.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotiv

It appears Sega is back in the game too, according to this Italian designer of the Mindball table.

...Sega!

http://mindballinventor.blogspot.com/

CeBIT 2008: OCZ NIA Reaches Mass Production - TrustedReviews

2008-04-20T23:37:00.001-05:00

2008 will be known as the year of mind control... that is, using the mind to control.

OCZ, the makers of my PC's power supply, are distributing a device that allows the use of the brain (!) to control video games.

But does it work with solitaire?

As mentioned in previous coverage, the NIA doesn't remove the need for a mouse to control games, but all the rodent is used for is aiming, so the criticism is a small one. OCZ claims that the NIA is far faster than any mouse, as there is no delay between, for example, thinking shoot and the computer receiving the command to fire your gun. Of course with the device costing $300 to retailers, on the street pricing is likely to be pretty high so we can't see too many of these popping up at LAN tournaments any time soon.

CeBIT 2008: OCZ NIA Reaches Mass Production - TrustedReviews

The final version of the NIA uses a sleek metal housing, a USB 2.0 interface, and streamlined headband with carbon “dry” interface sensors. Due to the anticipation surrounding the release of the NIA, OCZ will be demoing the mass production device and begin accepting orders at the CeBIT 2008 in Hannover, Germany.

http://www.ocztechnology.com/aboutocz/press/2008/273

i can has dicshunary?

2008-04-16T21:03:00.001-05:00

Techtree.com India > News > Hardware > Nvidia Planning a 'Whoop-ass' for Intel?

2008-04-11T11:40:00.001-05:00

The flag has dropped. The war is on.

Huang opened the meet enunciating on the fact that Nvidia is a visual computing company and not a semiconductor corporation, and that its goal is nothing else but to make GPUs better and deliver great experience. But later referred to Intel's discrete visual computing chip "Larrabee" as "Laughabee", and added that Nvidia was "going to open a can of whoop-ass" and that "Intel has crossed the line and they're saying false things".

Techtree.com India > News > Hardware > Nvidia Planning a 'Whoop-ass' for Intel?

GPGPU - next gen performance

2008-04-11T11:36:00.001-05:00

Graphics Processor Unit processing is the way of the future. Basically the main reason AMD bought ATI was to get at this technology. Intel is producing their next generation CPU architecture in combination with a GPU. The speed improvements are dramatic - from 2x-30x differences in calculation performance.

CUDA compatible GPU cards as efficient hardware accelerators for Smith-Waterman sequence alignment
The Smith-Waterman algorithm has been available for more than 25 years. It is based on a dynamic programming approach that explores all the possible alignments between two biological sequences; as a result it returns the optimal local alignment. Unfortunately, the computational cost is very high, requiring a number of operations proportional to the product of the length of two sequences. This paper by Svetlin Manavski and Giorgio Valle describes SmithWaterman-CUDA, an open-source project to perform fast sequence alignment on the GPU. Although the software performs the optimal Smith-Waterman alignment it is faster than heuristics approaches like FASTA and BLAST. The tests on protein data banks show up to 30x speed up related to reference CPU implementations. (Svetlin A. Manavski, Giorgio Valle, CUDA compatible GPU cards as efficient hardware accelerators for Smith-Waterman sequence alignment, BMC Bioinformatics 2008, 9(Suppl 2):S10 (26 March 2008))

GPGPU

Finally, some food for thought: The GPU is becoming so powerful that companies like nVidia are pitching them as GPGPUs and selling HPC (high performance computing) products that provide massive amounts of power (128 processors, massively parallel) in a little box. So, imagine that we took this same concept a step further and implemented an entire library outside of WPF that allowed you to leverage those kinds of platforms for general programming. Just like DLINQ where the expression is translated to SQL and remove over to your DB server for processing, we could translate and remote over to one of these boxes and execute it in a nanosecond

http://blog.hackedbrain.com/archive/2008/02/19/6141.aspx

Where technology like this would really shine is when programs have been optimized for parallel computing.

PC Perspective recently had an interview with John Carmack, one of the 2 Johns responsible for creating Wolfenstein & Doom. He is the one person who would probably take this technology and demonstrate its full potential.

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=532

That is my big take away message for a lot of people about the upcoming generation of general purpose computation on GPUs; a lot of people don’t seem to really appreciate how the vertex fragment rasterization approach to computer graphics has been unquestionably the most successful multi-processing solution ever. If you look back over 40 years of research and what people have done on trying to use multiple processors to solve problems, the fact that we can do so much so easily with the vertex fragment model, it’s a real testament to its value. A lot of people just think “oh of course I want more flexibility I’d love to have multiple CPUs doing all these different things” and there’s a lot of people that don’t really appreciate what the suffering is going to be like as we move through that; and that’s certainly going on right now as software tries to move things over, and it’s not “oh just thread your application”. Anyone that says that is basically an idiot, not appreciating the problems. There are depths of subtly to all of this where it’s been an ivory tower research project since the very beginning and it’s by no means solved.

OurAirports: OurAirports: Where have you been?

2008-04-08T13:51:00.001-05:00

Nice Google Maps Mashup with Airports from around the world.

Before you fly, read about the airports you plan to visit.
Places to start ...

Sign up for a free account to create a personalized map and leave signed comments (if you want to wait a bit before signing up, you can still explore and leave comments as an Anonymous Flyer).
Search for airports code, airport name, city/region/country name, latitude and longitude, etc. etc.

OurAirports: OurAirports: Where have you been?

If only it was this simple

2008-04-05T23:14:00.001-05:00

I think Flight Simulator X uses a similar codebase with one overriding if clause:

if (FramesPerSecond>10)
{
sleep(30);
}

I recently picked up a Quad Core system with 2GB of RAM and an Nvidia 8800 GT. I even have the blue blinky LED light on the front of the case that's supposed to speed up things. I'm still only seeing 9FPS using high levels in FSX. What gives? Do I _really_ have to turn off all of that vehicle traffic, weather, clouds and defrag my hard drive every night?

There's something about "future-proofing" software that leaves much to be desired. Sometimes simplicity speaks volumes.

Don't lose a tempermental model's luggage

2008-04-05T21:26:00.001-05:00

No more throwing cell phones around... this time it's all about assaulting an officer on an international flight out of the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow.

A cell phone to the head is serious... but this looks a bit worse.

When the police were called in to manage the dispute, Campbell flew completely off the handle and assaulted the police officer, which, apparently is against the law. She was thus subdued, handcuffed and removed from the plane along with her entire entourage of Campbellites.

Naomi Campbell flips out in Heathrow Terminal 5, gets arrested - Gadling

And another case for backing up your important data in the "cloud" or somewhere not physically near you, and definitely not in your luggage!

First the opening day woes, then Naomi Campbell, now 24 year old Scottish singer, song writer and record producer DJ Calvin Harris. Harris was flying from US to London’s Heathrow (Terminal 5) when his laptop with the only existing copy of his second album went missing (in the notorious Terminal 5 Baggage crisis). The airlines offered him GBP 750 as compensation for the loss.

Would you like to help out the folks at BAA with their luggage problem?

Try "Wee Willie Walsh" in TERMINAL PANIC!

Reminds me of that old Commodore 64 game, Beer Tapper.

If you don't want to help BAA, you can join the Stop Heathrow Expansion web site, though I think it's a bit late for that.

Apparently luggage is now being sorted by hand until they can figure the mess out. I don't think they can outsource that work to another country.

Grupo Ferrovial stock seems to have weathered the storm okay. British Airways, not so much...

System update kicks Heathrow baggage system offline | IT Project Failures | ZDNet.com

2008-04-05T20:54:00.001-05:00

This is probably one of the highest profile computer/infrastructure failures in the last few years

The error occurred, “[A]fter an update to the system made it reboot….” Additionally:

BAA told Computerworld UK that a computer software upgrade, conducted Monday night, was the cause of the failure. Despite testing the software, the “glitch crashed both baggage sorting machines….”

System update kicks Heathrow baggage system offline | IT Project Failures | ZDNet.com

Computer glitches were part of the issue, but the key problems appeared to be logistics. Staff couldn't find parking spaces in the morning, and couldn't log in to the system. After that, it's no wonder they were having a bad day.

But British Airways added that staff log on issues were also part of the problem. “The log on system initially didn’t work,” a BA spokesperson told Computerworld UK. “There was an issue with that for some reason.”

The airline said that “the car parking problems meant the staff were not in place.”

Who designed the baggage system?

The high tech baggage system, was heavily featured in the Terminal Five pre-opening publicity. Created through 400,000 man hours of software engineering, it was designed and supplied by Vanderlande Industries in conjunction with IBM technology and Alstec, who are operating the system.

Didn't George from Seinfeld work for Vanderlande Industries?

British Airport Authority (BAA) is ultimately responsible for the operation of the terminal and it's technology.

The technology investment is immense. T5 boasts 17 kilometres of baggage conveyor belts in a system designed to handle as many as 12,000 bags an hour. Over 400,000 man-hours have gone into developing the system's software, which has the ability to prioritise late bags. The terminal has involved 180 IT suppliers, runs 163 IT systems, manages 546 interfaces, more than 9,000 connected devices and 2,100 PCs. The building has 96 self check-in kiosks, 54 traditional check-in desks and 90 self-drop baggage depots.

This release from February 14, 2008, seems to be a preclude to the disaster.

Airports authority BAA has begun looking for a service provider to work with it to help develop consistent IT systems at Heathrow and across the authority’s airports.

It appears that 50 of the IT staff for BAA transferred to IT services company LogicaCMG, when BAA signed a 5-year outsourcing contract with them.

LogicaCMG will manage more than 400 different applications, including Oracle Enterprise Suite, as well as aircraft stand allocation and staffing.

Other components of the luggage handling system include wireless connectivity.

The network will have 800 access points connected to two separate redundant Aruba Mobility Controller wireless switches, in two separate locations in Heathrow. The APs used are Aruba's 802.11abg devices. The new 802.11n specification was too risky and early at the time the network was designed – "but we can just clip in 802.11n when we need it", says Newbold.

The wireless LAN will be used for the baggage-handling system. Engineers with laptops and PDAs can manage the infrastructure and check barcodes on luggage anywhere in the building.

However, Newbold made a deliberate decision not to focus on making the WLAN "seamless". He explains, "It's not a contiguous medium, it's not connection oriented." For instance, when staff step from the shopping mall to "back of house", it is very important that they experience a transition, and some resources are not available the other side of the line. Sometimes this is enforced by excluding radio signals from other parts of the space. "There are a lot of Faraday cage materials in the building."

That would tick me off if I was a baggage handler having to setup connectivity every time I leave an area.

Here's a question that shouldn't have to be assumed... it should be proven in a lab when dealing with this kind of scale.

Will it work?

Despite careful planning, Newbold can't be sure the WLAN will work straight away, because the building has not yet seen a full complement of visitors. "Optimisation is the biggest challenge," he explains. On an average day, the building expects to see 53,000 people, all of whom will have a definite effect on the propagation of radio signals, since they are mostly made of water.

Could login issues be as simple as wireless connectivity?

And with ever-increasing numbers of people wishing to fly, the things that can turn airports into nightmares are getting bigger and more frightening.

The line above was written almost 3 years ago.

Passengers arriving very early, say seven hours before their scheduled departure, will also be able to check their bags into the system rather than wait for check-in to open and add to the queues.

Doesn't sound like Just in time baggage check-in to me...

I had my luggage "delayed" somehow on a trip to NY last year. It was shipped to my hotel 7 hours after the flight, however by then I had already purchased a new outfit. (So I guess it wasn't really a bad thing. )

There was one other person with me waiting anxiously at the baggage carousel for bags that would never show up.

That was only 2 people and the person manning the desk for lost luggage still looked stressed. I wonder how the staff at new Heathrow dealt with 12,000 "delayed" bags.

If my reaction was to go out and buy a new outfit and toiletries, then I guess that losing people's luggage is one way of indirect economic stimulation.

LHC 2008 - Journée Portes Ouvertes

2008-04-04T22:10:00.001-05:00

Something to do on Sunday... visit CERNs Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. At 27km long, this circular tunnel contains the largest particle accelerator in the world. It was supposed to come online in November, 2007. Looks like it might be August before we find out just what it's capable of...

On Sunday 6 April 2008 CERN will throw open all the doors to the LHC. A range of exciting activities will be organised around the ring, both on the surface and underground.

LHC 2008 - Journée Portes Ouvertes

Techgage - Matrox TripleHead2Go Digital Edition

2008-04-01T10:25:00.001-05:00

This is definitely going on my wish list for FSX. 3840x1200 gaming...

In order to power the maximum resolution of 3840x1024, a dual-link DVI connection is needed. While many PCs today have dual-link either through their motherboard's video out (notebooks) or their graphics card (desktops), there are many that don't and it's because of this that Matrox included the analog VGA connector on this product. This allows Matrox to market the TH2Go Digital to many more people than they would be able to without the VGA out port.

Techgage - Matrox TripleHead2Go Digital Edition

MaximumSignal - Dropped cell phone calls

2008-03-28T17:02:00.001-05:00

Here's one way to keep a decent signal on your cell phone...

9DB 30 inch Super Trucker Antenna - Omni Directional
SKU: SKU9DB30INTRUCKER
The best Trucker antenna available period from any manufacturer!. Covers all North American Carriers on 800 MHz and 1900 MHz including CDMA , TDMA , GSM , EVDO , HSDPA ,EDGE, iDEN and ANALOG , This bad boy will leave all the other drivers drooling and begging you to know where you got it!!

MaximumSignal

blog.pmarca.com: The Psychology of Entrepreneurial Misjudgment, part 1: Biases 1-6

2008-03-27T10:37:00.001-05:00

I picked up Charlie's book last year in Los Angeles at the Huntington Library. It is worth it's weight in gold. I just wish the darn thing wasn't so heavy...

Charlie Munger is an 80-something billionaire who cofounded top-tier law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson and is Warren Buffett's long-time partner and Vice-Chairman at Berkshire Hathaway, one of the most successful companies of all time.
Some people, including me, consider Mr. Munger to be an even more interesting thinker and writer than Mr. Buffett, and recently a group of Mr. Munger's friends assembled a compilation book of his most interesting thoughts and speeches called Poor Charlie's Almanack, inspired by Ben Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack. (The Munger book is only available on Amazon in used form, although you can apparently buy a new copy here.)

blog.pmarca.com: The Psychology of Entrepreneurial Misjudgment, part 1: Biases 1-6

Air Charter Hot Deals — Charter Flight Promotional Offers, Discounts from Virgin Charter

2008-03-13T05:43:00.002-05:00

Sir Richard Branson and the Virgin brand are now selling direct-to-internet charter flights.

Want to book a trip from Tokyo to LA on a private Jetstream V for $58,000? How about less? Just put in a bid.

Can't see any stink bids being accepted but who knows? Not sure if they accept Paypal just yet... on second thought... $50k & paypal probably don't mix.

This is a neat way to see where the rich, famous, and business execs frequently travel. Namely NJ, CA, and TX, with some flights from Portland, OR to Hawaii.

I saw Sir Richard a couple of times when I went to those roving Learning Annex seminars. Although the brand name is successful, I'm not sure how well his companies do. It was impressive to see him show photos of the Royal family flying around in the 80s and 90s in his private jets. It wasn't so impressive when he was advertised as a motivational speaker, and was hung over after VirginFest in Toronto. Motivation and alcohol don't mix for me.

His other comment about always keeping a notepad in his back pocket to take down information during parties (because of alcohol-induced blackouts?) kind of made sense. Memory's always a problem when liquor kills your brain cells.

Best way to get a flight to anywhere and become influential in the world? Buy an airline.

Worst way to get famous? Fly around Washington, DC.

Speaking of flying, my quest to master FSX and take on the real world of flying has hit a snag. The keyboard seems really sensitive, so when I hit the throttle to taxi I end up either driving into a ditch or crashing into a terminal. This is not a confidence-builder. There is no "realism setting" in real flying. This is really ticking me off since I bought a new computer and was looking forward to flying around with the maximum effects turned on. At least I can see the cars I'm crashing into when I try to land on the highway.

Guess I'll have to break down and buy a yoke & rudder... or maybe just go for the real thing... or maybe do both.

With American Airlines and Virgin America promising in-flight broadband I might be able to fly FSX multiplayer while flying in a real plane.

That makes my head hurt... or was it the 2 bottles of Baron Phillip de Rothschild Merlot from last night? Searching for reviews on that wine comes up with "buy cheap wine." Sigh. Should have stuck with the Chateau Mouton.

Air Charter Hot Deals — Charter Flight Promotional Offers, Discounts from Virgin Charter

A Flipbook on China: A Magnum photo essay. - - Slate Magazine

2008-03-09T11:48:00.001-05:00

This video steps through 30 years of photographs of China, and has some really powerful images.

"China Transformations" is the theme of the 12^th International Biennial of Photo-Related Art, which takes place in Houston on March 7 to 20.

"A Flipbook on China" celebrates 60 years of observing the changes in China, as documented in Magnum's living archive. More information about the festival can be found on the FotoFest Web site.

A Flipbook on China: A Magnum photo essay. - - Slate Magazine

A book I just received in the mail and definitely worth picking up if you like art history and want to learn more is 30,000 Years of Art.

Be careful if you have a weak lower back... this thing weighs about 13 pounds, is 12" tall, 3" thick and is over 1000 pages. Quite possibly the best value for your free shipping coupon, though the postal delivery person will hate you.

The book would make a good side table, a project I may consider since it crushes my legs when it sits on my lap.

I managed to 'read' it in half-an-hour, though it will probably take years to actually acquire some "art appreciation" with it. It's really a picture book of art appreciation, with one photo per page, but the small caption for each piece is misleading. A wealth of information has been captured detailing where the piece currently resides, country of origin, how it was created, and why it is relevant.

Don't bother with the bookstore. Get this thing delivered.

If you're interested in China, news, language, and culture, please check out my blog at: http://kneehow.blogspot.com/

Essays About The Elevator Pitch

2008-02-29T11:25:00.001-05:00

The elevator pitch is a key skill to have, to people's eyes from wandering...

As a result, I have started putting down in words everything that I have learned about what makes an elevator pitch effective. This includes a primer entitled Elevator Pitch 101 as well as a number of related essays...

Essays About The Elevator Pitch

Read email with a dance pad

2008-02-25T20:47:00.001-05:00

Explanation

We’ve created applications that can be controlled using a dance pad instead of the keyboard or mouse. We have StepMail which allows you to read, delete and flag your email and StepPhoto which allows you to organize your photos. Using these applications is fun, helps reduce RSI, and gets you up out of your chair.

http://research.microsoft.com/vibe/projects/stepUI.aspx

Everyone wants a new PC

2008-02-25T13:22:00.001-05:00

Sorry to hear my P5E board doesn't support DDR3 RAM... but who cares about geekspeak... it's still a smoking fast system.

I managed to run out of 2GB of memory with Flight Simulator X though... what a pig.

Apparently building a new PC and creating a video qualifies for a reward. I should have taped my experience... 6 hours of cursing, dropped screws, band-aids, and XP still took 45 minutes to install (same as my old PC).

It’s finally done! The “Max Builds a PC series” wraps up with the build process from start to finish. I had a lot of fun throughout this entire series starting with debating and choosing the parts with all of you all the way to the time I spent in the studio putting it all together. My only regret is that I have to give this 5.9 rated PC away rather than keeping it for myself……… Oh yes, you read that right: this got a 5.9 rating from Windows Vista’s experience rating system!

Page 3 - Max Builds a PC: The Final How-To Video and WINNER! | Posts | Channel 8

I'll probably cough up $50 for another 2GB of RAM. Glad I got the 8800 GT... if you're buying a new PC for anything but email & web surfing, get a good video card.

Why i like my new computer

2008-02-21T14:01:00.001-05:00

I recently upgraded to a more powerful "beast" of a computer to play the latest Flight Simulator X and for checking my email (and maybe some work too). I'm a bit rough at assembling systems (the last one I built was in '99) but I managed to figure out how to put the pieces together without bending too much, and in only 8-10 tries. With no smoke, and only a few reversed cables, I think my warranty is still good.

I'm still trying to figure out why I need to deal with standoffs, motherboard mounting screws, and those stupid connectors for power switches, reset buttons, and LEDs. There has got to be an easier way. This stuff has been the same since the 80s.

The other thing that killed me were the rebate forms. I kept asking myself why I'm wasting a half-hour of my life filling out an $8 rebate form and going to the different web sites for registration.

One thing I liked, since I don't have front-facing audio jacks... this stuff is magic.

Another thing I liked... the Asus Nvidia 8800 GT... this is the real beast.

I did have to upgrade the motherboard BIOS and video card drivers from Nvidia to get the system stable.

Now I can see cars driving in FSX... for the price of a couple of hours of real flying time.

Now if I can only figure out how to stop an uncontrolled helicopter spin.

http://www.canadacomputers.com/

BBC NEWS | Technology | Brain control headset for gamers

2008-02-20T08:09:00.001-05:00

Well, looks like my wiimote just became obsolete. Worst $45 I ever spent.

A neuro-headset which interprets the interaction of neurons in the brain will go on sale later this year.
"It picks up electrical activity from the brain and sends wireless signals to a computer," said Tan Le, president of US/Australian firm Emotiv.
"It allows the user to manipulate a game or virtual environment naturally and intuitively," she added.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Brain control headset for gamers

Actually, it seems to use a similar technology, a gyroscope, to detect movement and facial expressions. The one difference?

"Communication between human and machine has always been limited to conscious interaction, with non-conscious communication -- expression, intuition, perception -- reserved solely for the human realm. At Emotiv, we believe that future communication between human and machine will not be limited to the conscious communication that exists today. Users will demand that non-conscious communication play a much more significant role."

http://tinyurl.com/2ad9ur

Though the thing looks a bit like an 80's headset with tentacles, it still sounds incredible.

The 80s is probably where they got their design idea...

"I honestly believe that the next big leap in immersive technology will be very much like Brainstorm." - Douglas Trumbull, Brainstorm

But why gaming? Why not just turning off the lights in your house, or changing the channel on the TV, or programming your Tivo?

More info on the Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technology.

It looks like controlling a computer with your brain has been around since the mid-90's. From Wikipedia:

"in experiments beginning in the mid-1990s, Niels Birbaumer of the University of Tübingen in Germany used EEG recordings of slow cortical potential to give paralysed patients limited control over a computer cursor."

Of course, it took months of training to write 100 characters an hour, so it didn't work very well.

Looks like my light switch idea was already tested with good results, albeit in the virtual world.

"In 2000, for example, research by Jessica Bayliss at the University of Rochester showed that volunteers wearing virtual reality helmets could control elements in a virtual world using their P300 EEG readings, including turning lights on and off and bringing a mock-up car to a stop."

Who's behind this latest innovation? I'm guessing the Fraunhofer Society, the killers of the physical music media and inventors of MP3 have something to do with it.

Neatorama » Blog Archive » The Evolution of Tech Companies’ Logos

2008-02-19T18:24:00.001-05:00

You’ve seen these tech logos everywhere, but have you ever wondered how they came to be? Did you know that Apple’s original logo was Isaac Newton under an apple tree? Or that Nokia’s original logo was a fish?

Let’s take a look at the origin of tech companies’ logos and how they evolved over time

Neatorama » Blog Archive » The Evolution of Tech Companies’ Logos

Yahoo eats its creative brains?

2008-02-16T14:50:00.001-05:00

Design and Innovation are really similar and complementary terms. Design is "to conceive or fashion in the mind; to invent" while innovation is to improve on a design, or invention, probably through more design. It is an iterative process that happens in waves.

Kind of like job cuts. During times of stress, the first ones to go are R&D. The last person to go is the one who turns off the lights at night and makes the coffee in the morning.

Interesting times are in store for Yahoo after axing 1,000 employees. Someone else did some cold ballpark estimates for the effect the cuts will have on YHOO's stock price & EPS. Apparently the more people they cut, the more operating profit they will have? Sounds a bit flaky and unsustainable to me. Are they going to have the board of directors installing more memory in the servers at Yahoo, or are they just going to outsource everything to Amazon S3?

The entire Yahoo Design Innovation Team, aka yHaus, has been axed en masse, Portfolio.com has confirmed with one of the team's former members.

"Yahoo Design Innovation team has been shut down completely," wrote Doug Fritz, a former full-time staffer for the team, in an email.

Confirmed: Yahoo Design Innovation Team Axed - News Blog - Daily Brief - Portfolio.com

No word on whether they were measuring innovation vs. profit at Yahoo, or the social aspects cutting 1,000 jobs will have on corporate culture. Perhaps this is a poison pill designed to stop any hostile takeover?

One designer posted some really interesting data visualization videos around FAA flight data here. Like living organisms, the planes graphically pour in and out of the US.

Here is a list of a few of web sites of the former Yahoo design innovation team for further inspiration.

http://www.aaronkoblin.com/
http://www.ghost-hack.com/
http://www.bigpixel.com/
http://www.practicalist.com/
http://www.dougfritz.com/
http://jennylc.com/
http://danielmassey.net/
http://recombine.net/
http://interactive.usc.edu/members/adm/

Innovation is quite similar to the creation of life. It is a drastically changing event that impacts everyone around it. Sometimes innovation may even shorten life.

Speaking of life and living, one of my friends sent me photos of their unborn son. This feels to me like looking into a crystal ball and being able to see a life before it sees the world. Incredible stuff...

Like watching the creation of life, being able to watch what is happening in the brain is as incredible. It is still a very mysterious part of our anatomy, though every day technology turns into a Rosetta Stone for translation and decoding of our thoughts and actions into meaning.

One technology that captures my interest is brain single-photon-emission computed tomography (SPECT) 3D imaging. This technology gives psychiatrists and scientists the ability to compare the brains of various subjects and view incredible 3D visualizations of the inner workings of the brain. Picture a cure for brain-related disorders, and perhaps even better-tasting food.

Cardiac MRI provides the ability to look into the inner workings of the heart. Picture longer lives and a healthier brain.

However, with all of the advances in science, there does not yet exist a tool to visualize the soul or even prove that it exists, though fetal imaging gets pretty close to seeing a mother and father's soul combined into a living being.

What does this all have to do with Yahoo cutting its innovation teams? Perhaps it leaves them to go on to more important work than just building a better web site, search engine, or social network, like getting rid of lost baggage or delays at airports, or inventing a way to visualize the soul.

Just my $0.02.

Innovation in Canada

2008-02-14T15:37:00.001-05:00

I am a member of a task group studying innovation within our company. This seems to be a prevailing topic as the focus moves from monetizing physical assets (capital goods, real estate, hardware, software) to monetizing innovative ideas (think green, cost reductions and efficiencies, patents, best of breed designs) and ensuring that we keep up with the increasingly fast-moving R&D train of the world, and all of those building cranes.

Canada does have a way to go, though we do have RIMM and our Canadian Space Agency... and CATA.

Canada’s lack of innovation, a 14^th place ranking or a D Grade in Innovation, among the 17 OECD nations, is leading to mediocre socio-economic performance compared to other developed countries (Conference Board of Canada)

Source: CATAAlliance Executive Dashboard, February, 2008

Is D a pass?

Some of the focuses of CATA, the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance, include:

Building a brand for Canada (isn't this Tim Hortons?)
Creating an Industrial Strategy for Canada (outsourcing and a higher CAD?)
Attracting, retaining and training best talent (George Romero is moving to Toronto)
Public Safety and National Security with an eye on protecting privacy(unlike the US, where the GOP walked out of the House today because they couldn't get their NSA bill passed)

The membership has a noticeable slant towards manufacturers, which is probably because Canada has a large amount of them.

So what is OECD and how do they have the authority to rate our innovative spirit? It's the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development. Since this was written, there are now 30 nations on the list, so maybe Canada's been bumped a bit higher (or lower..)

In the US, a government task group has been created from top executives in the largest corporations to figure out how to quantify and measure innovation. This committee, aptly and verbosely titled Measuring Innovation in the 21st Century Economic Advisory Committee (MI21cEaC would make a good strong password) has Steve Ballmer of Microsoft as one of its members. Other companies with representatives include Wal-Mart, 3M, and IBM.

Oddly enough, Steve Jobs or anyone else from Apple isn't represented.

So why is everyone caring so much about innovation today?

"Innovation is a key determinant of economic growth and improvements in living standards over the long run. "

Sounds important. So how do we measure innovation in an IT consulting organization? In the "real world" outside the business, patents and R&D expenditures are used as proxies to measure innovation. One KPI used is R&D / GDP (%). SInce we don't have GDP in our organization, perhaps R&D spend / Total Revenue is a good KPI? For measuring expenses perhaps, but innovation has got to be much more than figuring out how much money is being thrown at a problem.

Inside the business, there should be many ways to measure innovation. Of course, before you can measure you must define. The problem with the term "innovation" is that it has many possible connotations. Invention is the creation of an idea. So is innovation? No. Innovation, from what I understand is an idea that significantly improves on a previous idea (invention) or combines multiple ideas in a unique way, and demonstrates it to others in a repeatable fashion.

For things like this I look to Wikipedia, possibly the most revolutionary innovation since the printed word. Since we're trying to relate this to business & government, I will go with this example.

In economics, business and government policy,- something new - must be substantially different, not an insignificant change. In economics the change must increase value, customer value, or producer value. Innovations are intended to make someone better off, and the succession of many innovations grows the whole economy.

To simply even further, you need to define what "value" is from an economic sense.

Value is...

"the amount (of money or goods or services) that is considered to be a fair equivalent for something else; "he tried to estimate the value of the produce at normal prices" - Free Dictionary

Sounds like apples to oranges... each of them could be priced matched and both are fruits, but some people like apples and some people like oranges. Maybe Total Economic Value provides a better defnition?

"TEV is composed by use values, option values and non-use components. There is not in the literature a single standard categorization nor terminology. Often Total Value is reported as the sum of use value and non-use values or passive values"

Ouch. Maybe not.

How do you increase value through innovation?

Change the world.

Simpify.

Livestation Beta Opens Up

2008-02-12T15:01:00.001-05:00

I just got approved for the Livestation trial. I'm a bit underwhelmed, since I have 1 channel (Al Jazeera) and a couple radio stations.

The quality is good, but for now I'll stick with Joost.

European Livestation users will have access to the BBC, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, France 24 in French and English, Euronews, Canal+, Sky News and two BBC Radio stations with the new beta test unveiled today. US users will just get Al Jazeera, France 24 and BBC Radio for now, but Berlucchi was quick to remind me that this is still a technical trial to prove that the technology is working and that there is actually a demand for such an offering.

Livestation | NewTeeVee: Livestation Opens Up Beta Test, Focuses on News | Download the free Livestation player

The Top 50 Proprietary Programs that Drive You Crazy — and Their Open Source Alternatives | WHDb

2008-02-08T14:42:00.001-05:00

Lots of unique open-source alternatives.

Opacity - Nassem Taleb's view on e-Books

2008-01-25T20:06:00.001-05:00

I am an avid book collector ("hoarder") and I agree that it is much better to pick up a book, to read the spine, look at the dust jacket, the writing font, the photos, the colours; before picking it up and physically measuring the quality of its content by weight and visualizing the content inside.

That doesn't stop me from wanting one of those e-ink e-book readers when they come down in price and have a faster page turning rate.

I think the best type of reader will be like the wiimote or iPod, with various dust jackets, book-style holders, and containers to hold the reader, based on the type of book you are reading. A double-sided reader with two screens and the layout of a book could also mimic the feel of a true book. This type of experience would be immensely closer to the true experience... though it still won't match the real thing.

Fools do not want to accept that the real thing is better than the electronic. In other words, a text does not simplify a book. A book is so much real than a PDF on my hard disk. The experience of reading something you hold in your hands is more aesthetically rewarding: a book is better looking than a flat screen –it has an extra dimension. But to me, the main advantage is that I remember far, far better what I read in a book. My memory solidifies around hard objects, specific books, parts of my library. The classical mnemotechnic originates with the Greeks method of the loci: it consists in attaching memories to physical objects, a stone in a wall, a specific part of a ceiling, etc. You imagine a building & invest some of the locations with things to remember. In Luria’s account of the synesthete who could remember everything in great detail, there is a striking scene. Sh. [the patient-protagonist], has his memory failing him on a small detail because there is a cloud hiding the object to which the memory was attached.

Source: Opacity

Of course, there is something to a book that contains video, 3D virtual reality, links to web pages, music, and an author's commentary to figure out what exactly they were trying to say. Some fools can appreciate this kind of book... I'm one of them.

http://www.bcpictures.com/pages/richmediaebrochures.html

YouTube - NXT Rubik's cube solver - Final version

2008-01-14T16:32:00.001-05:00

Yet another useless but amazing application for Lego Mindstorms...

This last version of my LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Rubik's cube solver can solve ANY cube (no matter how shuffled) in 3'30" minutes maximum.
I adopted on PC a fast algorithm to solve the cube.
Anyone who thought this robot was fake must see!

YouTube - NXT Rubik's cube solver - Final version

Engadget - Alpine

2008-01-14T15:13:00.001-05:00

I was never a big fan of Alpine - their decks seemed really klunky to me, however I know that the quality of the sound that comes out is much better than any dolphin-swimming stereos like the ones I used to have. And my audiophile friends always liked them.

Now it sounds like they have a way to measure the interior space of your car and eq the deck properly.

Audyssey's MultEQ acoustic correction technology to "measure and analyze the entire interior space," after which it combines results with a set of equalization filters to produce the best sound for each environment. As if that weren't impressive enough, the integrated RoadEQ is also there to "compensate for music distorted by vehicle / road noise."

Engadget

Dakar costs a bit underestimated

2008-01-09T16:31:00.001-05:00

I slightly underestimated the costs of the cancellation of Dakar Rally for one team... by a few million.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. --Robby Gordon said Monday the cancellation of the Dakar Rally cost him approximately $4.5 million, and he disagreed with the decision not to race at least a portion of the event.

Sports Betting and Gambling Odds Online

''An entry for the Dakar is $12,000 per person, not counting the vehicles,'' he said. ''I think our entries were $360,000 and that's just the entry fees. That's not shipping trucks. That's not flying people there. That's not hotels in Lisbon. It's a big deal, and it's got me completely messed up right now in the head.

What's even more interesting is that all of the infrastructure was setup to race and a course alteration would have been acceptable in lieu of cancellation.

''All of the equipment was there,'' he said. ''All of the teams were there. Television was set up. All of the stuff was done, and Portugal is not a dangerous area to race. It's a safe country, it's a beautiful country, and we had the permits to run on those roads and those trails. Some of it was military proving grounds, and we had what we needed to do to race there.

''Why didn't we go to Morocco and run a few stages in Morocco? ''

One team member is still going to Dakar with supplies intended for a school.

Despres will still be in Dakar on January 20, “I have decided to honour my own humanitarian obligations. I will inaugurate the new school in Dakar and make sure the school materials that I took to Lisbon will reach their intended destination."

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sportresults/mcn/2008/January/7-9/jan0808cyrildespresondakarcancellation/

Noise-cancelling... speakers?

2008-01-08T14:31:00.001-05:00

Think of a video projector... now translate that to audio. Audio that follows you around when you walk, but doesn't disturb others.

“If you have audio going into a single speaker, it pours into a room like water. It just goes everywhere. Once we have multiple speakers under computer control, we can pre-distort the audio so that it builds up in some areas of the room and cancels itself out in others. We can do computer simulations of how the sound is going to propagate from the individual speaker cones and specify that we want more sound in one region and less sound in another.

Personal Audio Space: The Headphones Experience sans Headphones

First step is to catch up to "state of the art". Second step is to blow right on by.

“The way I like to design research projects,” Droppo says, “is that each phase answers at least one or two questions that we don’t know [the answer to]. While we don’t have anything spectacularly different yet, in the past few months, we’ve been able to catch up to the state of the art, and the real exciting part for me is where we’re taking this in the future.”

Bikers Dakar Rally Dream Is Shattered (from York Press)

2008-01-07T16:14:00.001-05:00

The stories about losses around the Dakar Rally cancellation are coming out now...

Duncan Tweedy, 44, who lives in Harrogate, but is formerly from York, said he had spent tens of thousands of pounds and a year of his life preparing for the famous endurance race.

Bikers Dakar Rally Dream Is Shattered (from York Press)

One quote that caught my eye...

"I'm just a small fry here. There are teams here from all over the world - China, Russia - who've spent millions of pounds."

How much did teams spend on Dakar? Perhaps around the $100,000 EUR mark each? More likely much more.

Over 525 teams competed last year. That's only $52 million EUR... but with tourism & media costs it should be much more...

Death Race 2008: Dakar Rally Canceled

2008-01-05T23:35:00.001-05:00

It is ironic to me that one of the most dangerous races in the world was cancelled due to 'safety concerns'. Doesn't bode well for tourism in the region... or sponsorship of the race itself. Seems like really short notice to cancel the event the night before... Why not just cancel the Mauritania stage or put in a detour?

This seems to be more of a political issue than safety. Looking at the Dakar Lingo page...

"Polisario Front - The rally was criticized for crossing through the disputed territory of Western Sahara between Morocco and Mauritania without consulting the Polisario Front, which is considered representative of Sahrawi people."

Looking at a list of security threats to Dakar, perhaps the French government was worried about land mines in the region?

It will be interesting to see what the sports media will fill the space usually reserved for Dakar... and how the Dakar organization will spin this.

The Amaury Sport Association really had no choice but to cancel, considering the danger to both the racers and spectators even after Mauritania had offered up a 3,000 man security force

Source: Racing News: 2008 Dakar Rally Canceled

"The Mauritanian government said the shooting of the French tourists and a separate attack on a military base that left three soldiers dead were isolated incidents and claims of an al-Qaeda plot had not been proved."

More info here.

I missed the news that Colin McRae had died in a September, 2007 near his Scotland home. Sad times...

The Canadian Press: Canadian aid worker in Kenya worries for her visiting family; the region's people

2008-01-04T00:11:00.001-05:00

This strikes a little too close to home. January 1st I was driving on the 401 near Kingston at 9am. I drove for 20 minutes without seeing a single car on the road. I actually drove for 15 minutes without seeing the road at all. It felt like a war zone, only this was just mother nature and an annual ritual for me. There was about a foot of snow dumped everywhere, and the snowplow drivers must have been too hung over to get the highway plowed because I was doing the plowing in my car... without snow tires.

It took over six hours for what would normally be a 2 hour drive. But we were able to get home eventually, unlike these unfortunate Canadian aid workers who can't get a flight out of Kenya.

"You just had such an eerie feeling of driving down what was supposed to be a highway and what normally during the day is completely jam-packed with people and yet you are seeing no one. All you're seeing is army and police and maybe a few media."

The Canadian Press: Canadian aid worker in Kenya worries for her visiting family; the region's people

The key difference for us is the worst thing that could happen to us would be ditching the car or spinning out into the guardrail. We saw about 10 cars that were stopped facing the wrong direction on the highway going home. All of them had tow trucks and/or police cars next to them.

The other difference is that the snow caused nothing more than minor annoyance for everyone except those dumb enough to be driving in that weather. In Kenya, a lack of aid to countries like Sudan & Somalia is a life or death situation. Things are not getting better.

Another example (they are so easy to find lately) of unrest in the Eastern Hemisphere is what happened over the last two days in Mirpur, Pakistan. A strike by garment workers caused the city to shut down. Was the strike over wages? Nope. They didn't show up for work for two days to protest and mourn the death of a colleague who allegedly died after being forced to work a night shift while sick. By the account of the factory the employees held management hostage and refused to leave. When the factory workers returned the next day, they found the factory closed and took to the streets.

The woman's family will receive 100,000 rupees (approximately $1620) from the factory for her death. That is over 3 years of minimum wage earnings in Pakistan, though it could be more for a garment worker.

This isn't the first time this has happened.

Why I'm not a big fan of Andy Warhol

2008-01-02T08:03:00.001-05:00

I went to an Andy Warhol exhibit a couple of years ago at the AGO in Toronto. I was not impressed with the art, and to me it was very commercial and trend-focused or shock-focused to get attention.

I didn't see the art, only canned pop culture meant for marketing.

Now I see why... Andy was a businessman.

The first edition of Hello! appeared on British news-stands in 1988, hastening the fulfilment of Andy Warhol's famous prophecy about everybody having their 15 minutes of fame - a cliché now, but also one of the greatest truisms of the age. (I met Warhol once, at a party in New York for an English rock star. It was clear Warhol had no idea who the rock star was; he had been invited simply to ensure the event would be mentioned in the next day's papers; he had come simply because he had been invited. His eyes were dead, and when I shook his hand it felt like talcumed parchment paper.)
"Making money is art," Warhol said, "and good business is the best art." And who doesn't want to be an artist?

Source: The 20 years that changed my life... and the face of modern Britain - Telegraph

I'm still looking for 15 - 30 minutes of fame...

Excellent story about someone growing up in the late 20th century and the turmoil surrounding his life as he reached middle age.

Gadgets for 2008

2007-12-22T16:21:00.001-05:00

Here are my predictions of devices and technologies that will become mainstream in 2008 (because I want them).

A cheaper Optimus Maximus keyboard
Quality 42" televisions for under $1k
Cheap High def projectors
e-Ink eBook Readers (better than Kindle or Sony)
Mood clothes for women
Mood response clothes for men (to project complementary emotions to women)

I received a USB-Hub with Notepad & Mood Light from Microsoft last week. Now, it doesn't actually detect your mood from what I can tell, but it does attract attention. I'm thinking mood-clothes with texting capabilities are the next big thing.

These technologies are sort of fringe, but are probably going to get developed a bit further to something mainstream and maybe even adopted by the general public next year.

Mind-reading technology (that at least picks up positive or negative signals)
Event-driven Cancer detector (that uses wireless nanotechnology combined with microscopic gold flecks to reflect signal)
Clothes that change colour based on your blood alcohol level (or blood sugar level for diabetics)
Heart-attack GPS alert that sends alert to paramedics
Neuroeconomic Marketing tools (that influence your purchases based on an analysis of your brain's decision-making capabilities.)
The Men in Black Mind Eraser - using Neuroplasticity regenerator
Wii Mario with wii-brain - Brain-computer interface to play Mario.
DIY Supercomputer scavenging the cpu cycles of your old PCs and whatever else is connected to the network
Holographic 3D television
Simple desalinization of water from the world's oceans will be possible.
Cheap and safe methods of cooking will become available to the people who need it the most.
Cheap and easy ways to harness wind power from the blowing trees themselves.
Cheap and safe personal flight transportation
Anything with Nano or Neuro in the name will be hot.
Health Care, Alternative Food Sources, changes to currency, and Alternative Energy will be the hot topics of 2008.

These technologies just scare the heck out of me.

Ion Colliders that may or may not destroy the universe next year, or at least the Earth in seconds.
Voting machines, no explanation necessary.
Seed vaults which will be discovered millions of years from now by intelligent dinosaurs.
Program Trading that could tank the stock market just from one blue screen of death.

Invent something in 2008 with Phidgets.

Light something with LED Shoppe or PhotonLights.

Create art with NewMindSpace.

Get started building your own Optimus Maximus keyboard, for the low, low price of $5,500. (or just buy it above for under $500)

Screenkey Downloads Section - Programmable LCD key switches with multi-colour LED backlighting

Petoria comes true....

2007-12-20T15:15:00.001-05:00

The Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the United States, leaders said Wednesday.
"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us," long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means told a handful of reporters and a delegation from the Bolivian embassy, gathered in a church in a run-down neighborhood of Washington for a news conference.

The Raw Story | Descendants of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse break away from US

Facebook causes a recession

2007-12-20T00:08:00.001-05:00

I went to a Facebook Developer Conference a couple months ago and they mentioned their top requested feature. What was it? Building new applications easily? Launching ads & popups? Buying stuff online? Sharing my personal information with Google?

Nope. Categorization of friends.

Now you can pile your friends into categories like "distant relatives" and "people who went to high school with people I know but I don't know them but I'll add them anyway" and "my dog's facebook friends".

The scary thing? People can see when you're "Online Now" too.

The other scary thing? Context. Now whomever has access to these lists of friends also has access to any tags you assign to them.

This is just a start. Expect to see lots of new Friend Lists features in 2008 that will give you more control over the information you share on Facebook and who you share it with.

Source: Facebook | The Facebook Blog

The problem? Facebook, you just wiped about 2% more worth of productivity hours off the GDP of the US & Canada. Any company that hasn't banned Facebook outright will inevitably have organization freaks sorting and filing their friends and relatives into various buckets.

And the "Facebook whales"? Robert Scoble, Donald Trump, Mark Cuban, Tila Tequila? Something tells me they should hire somebody to manage their friends lists for them.

Life's too short for Facebook Friends Lists.

$8,000-per-gallon printer ink leads to antitrust lawsuit

2007-12-19T22:04:00.001-05:00

I refuse to buy ink from any retail store. When I run out, I usually pick up another printer and give away the one I have. Since I go through ink about once a year, the cost benefits are there, and I get new (albeit cheap) technology.

Recently I picked up a 6-month supply of ink (or in my case a lifetime supply, if it didn't expire in 6 months). This was shipped to me in a box as a set of generic ink cartridges and 20 refills. It included a reset switch to fool the printer into using it.

The price on eBay? $30 including shipping. The quality? Don't really care for that price, but it looks fine to my eyes. The location? China.. did you have to ask? "The Ink Manufactory company, genuine ink. Keep away from child!"

It would be interesting to find out whether there is a 'conspiracy' to hold back cheap toner out of retail stores from places like China. Since Epson has a built-in feature that locks it from using 'non-genuine' cartridge refills, I wonder what the magic eight ball would say?

Question: Is there a worldwide conspiracy to replace oil with price-controlled ink toner as the global force to dominate the world?

Magic 8 Ball:

A Boston man has filed a class-action lawsuit accusing hardware maker HP and office supply retailer Staples of colluding to inflate the price of printer ink cartridges in violation of federal antitrust law. According to the suit, HP allegedly paid Staples $100 million to refrain from selling inexpensive third-party ink cartridges, although the suit doesn't make it clear how plaintiff Ranjit Bedi arrived at that figure.

Source: $8,000-per-gallon printer ink leads to antitrust lawsuit

Mark Cuban is still my friend

2007-12-19T08:36:00.001-05:00

For now... He's hit the 5k friend limit on Facebook. Looks like he may have removed my dog though...

Here's a secret, Mark... you can have more than one account on Facebook.

"i also had to make decisions on the 100 plus new friend requests I get per day. Could this person really be my friend ? Could this person really be someone i do business with ? Did I actually know this person ?
Its kind of a bizarre process of clicking on ignore and deleting friend requests. To any of you who I have deleted or ignored. Its nothing personal."

Source: Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog

I wonder if I'm in "the Power Layer?" :)

"The Power Layer is probably the group of folks that caused you to join Facebook in the first place. These are the folks that you wanted to have some sort of easy way of tracking them down and talking to them because they are influencers or connectors in an industry or circle that you either are a part of, want to be a part of, or have an occasionally overlap into the world they influence."

Let me ask the magic eight ball...

Question: did i make mark cuban join facebook?

eerie!

Anyone getting a Fathead for Christmas because of all their Facebook friends?

Resident Evil Redux

2007-12-18T09:39:00.001-05:00

This is just plain spooky. Haven't they seen The Thing?

It has been 50 years since scientists first created DNA in a test tube, stitching ordinary chemical ingredients together to make life's most extraordinary molecule. Until recently, however, even the most sophisticated laboratories could make only small snippets of DNA -- an extra gene or two to be inserted into corn plants, for example, to help the plants ward off insects or tolerate drought.
Now researchers are poised to cross a dramatic barrier: the creation of life forms driven by completely artificial DNA.

Source: Scary sh*t right here... :( - Gold & Silver Forum

Drama at MOMA

2007-12-09T00:09:00.001-05:00

I went to MOMA a couple of weeks ago. I ran through at record pace, covering all the floors in less than 45 minutes. My plane was taking off in a few hours and I still wanted to see Grand Central & the UN building, so I decided I'd get the most of my CityPass and cover off as many things as possible. Of course I didn't really get appreciate much of the art, but then again it was packed (on a Monday before US Thanksgiving) and I'm not a big fan of crowds, or modern art for that matter.

I was much more impressed with the Morgan Library than MOMA, but that was probably because I'm more into books than art, and Morgan had a cool hidden staircase put in behind a shelf in his 4-story library of books. According to the security guard, he used to stand on the 4th floor balcony during parties, as guests below would try to figure out how he got there.

Apparently being a curator of MOMA has its dramas. When Lincoln Kirstein decided to commission a few "Made in America" murals in 1932, he got some decidedly un-American results. This caused some big disturbances between the cultural bigwigs of New York.

The “victory,” it soon became apparent, was not yet secured. No sooner had J. P. Morgan sanctioned the show than Conger Goodyear returned from vacation, declared his “furious” opposition to “the Communists,” and threatened to resign as MoMA’s president if the decision wasn’t reversed. The whole day of April 27, 1932, was spent in what Lincoln called “cross machinations.” Lincoln himself manned the barricades, dispatching runners in all directions. He sent Betty Bliss to persuade her father, Cornelius Bliss, guardian of Lizzie Bliss’s collection (which MoMA desperately wanted to secure), to intercede with Goodyear. He got from Gropper an actual count of how many artists were really prepared to secede (probably twenty-five, Gropper reported). He called Wittenberg “to make sure of an attempt to get an injunction to stop the show” should the three artists be excluded. He advised Nelson to try to make Goodyear resign; Nelson “was mad enough,” Lincoln wrote in his diary, “to do anything.” And finally, he tried, with limited success, to ascertain just how many trustees stood behind Goodyear.

Source: ARTnews

And with all of the effort, drama, and legal involvement, how did it pan out in the end? Apparently scandal didn't sell as well in this case... well it was the Great Depression too.

Lincoln drew a sigh of relief—but then nearly choked on it. The show’s thirty-odd paintings barely got hung (and not very well) in time for the next day’s press opening, and the day after that, as the notices began to appear, it became clear that the show was in for a severe drubbing. Lincoln himself acknowledged that only a few of the panels were of any real distinction, but he also felt that those few, along with the experimental nature of the effort, fully redeemed the enterprise.

The critics disagreed. Every single reviewer lambasted the show.

And what did Lincoln think of how he rubbed everyone that mattered the wrong way?

Lincoln played out the disaster with bravado and humor. As he wrote Agnes Mongan, then the Fogg Museum curator, “The mural show was a shattering failure & ruined my, er, reputation with all those to whom reputation counts. . . . But I was delighted at the universal irritation & the general feeling of betrayal everyone seemed to feel that I provided, I who was so charming & bright, etc. No longer. Now I’m only an, er, Jewish Bolshevik with shocking bad manners.”

I would go back to MOMA again, though I'm still a bigger fan of the Met, and non-American art like the Great Masters, Group of Seven, and works out of Asia.

I spent a ton of time in the Asian exhibits, and one piece really caught my eye... probably because I was catching it's 8 eyes.

Amero the free

2007-12-05T17:24:00.001-05:00

Got my Ameros today.... will make good stocking stuffers.

A currency union, similar to the European Union "Euro" has been proposed for North America. The name of the new currency is the "Amero". The Wikipedia encyclopedia article has additional details about the "Amero". This has been the source for many conspiracy theories tied in with other proposals such as the "Canamex Corridor".

Source: UNA Amero Pattern Coins

1000 'Ameros' are going for $1,100.00. Does Lady Liberty have a ray gun in her hand?

Christmas gift idea - $99 Eye-Fi SD Card

2007-12-02T19:57:00.001-05:00

When I went to New York a couple of weeks ago, I thought my memory card was corrupted. I realized the PC I was using was so old it didn't like any flash cards larger than 1GB.

This might have helped. Stream your pictures from your digital camera directly to your PC, then the web.

The Eye-Fi Card is a wireless memory card. It automatically uploads pictures from your digital camera to your PC or Mac and to your favorite photo sharing, printing, blogging or social networking site.
No cables, no waiting, no hassles.

Source: Eye-Fi » Home

And it supports facebook, among others...

A significant advance in cancer detection

2007-12-02T19:51:00.001-05:00

This 3D X-Ray machine provides stunning High Definition 3D visuals.

"This scanner allows radiologists to produce high quality images and is also designed to reduce patients' exposure to X-rays," Steve Rusckowski, chief executive of Philips Medical Systems, said.
"It is so powerful it can capture an image of the entire heart in just two beats."

Source: BBC NEWS | Health | 'Super' scanner shows key detail

Probably costs a bunch too.

Microsoft Sued; Christmas Comes Early for Z4 Technologies

2007-11-29T16:19:00.001-05:00

This is the reason why you should patent everything.... and why innovation in the US is probably a bad idea.

Not that asking for 2 passwords is an innovative thing. How did that get patented?

Microsoft is succumbing to patent trolls today, as they’re being ordered to pay over $140 million for, get this, asking for two passwords.

Microsoft Sued; Christmas Comes Early for Z4 Technologies

Brain Waves: The field of neurotechnology

2007-11-28T13:05:00.001-05:00

A Scary Illusion - Mr. Angry and Ms. Calm

Posted by Zack Lynch

If you look at the above images from your seat in front of the computer, Mr. Angry is on the left, and Ms.Calm is on the right. Now, get up from your seat, and move back 10 or 12 feet, and PRESTO!! they switch places!! It is said this illusion was created by Phillippe G.Schyns and Aude Oliva. Hat Tip to Dan.

Source: Brain Waves: The field of neurotechnology, the focus of this blog, encompasses advances in brain science (neurons), information technology (bits) and bioengineering (genes). Up for discussion and analysis: the political, economic, ethical, and social forces that will shape the future of what will be one of the most important and fascinating stories of the coming decades.

George Bush is a robot from Mars

2007-11-26T10:56:00.001-05:00

This explains everything...

In the enhanced photo of the first debate, Nelson says, look at the horizontal white line in middle of the president's back. You'll see a shadow. "That's telling me there's definitely a bulge," he says. "In fact, it's how we measure the depths of the craters on the moon or on Mars. We look at the angle of the light and the length of shadow they leave. In this case, that's clearly a crater that's under the horizontal line -- it's clearly a rim of a bulge protruding upward, one due to forces pushing it up from beneath."

The Time Vault: Bush wore a device during debate according to NASA

OCAD - Events Calendar - Book Arts Fair

2007-11-25T23:10:00.001-05:00

Worth a look.

Book Arts Fair
Ontario College of Art & Design
10:00am to 5:00pm, Sunday December 2, 2007
Work by book artists, printmakers, papermakers, and private press printers available for purchase
Every year in December, book artists, printmakers, papermakers, and private press printers gather at OCAD to show their work and demonstrate their skills in OCAD's Central Hall and Printmaking studios. The university community and general public are welcome to come and watch artists at work making paper, printing from litho stones, screen printing, hand typesetting, book binding, wood engraving, etching and much more. Many items are available for sale, providing unique ideas for holiday gift giving. Admission is pay-what-you-can.
Ontario College of Art & Design
100 McCaul St.
Toronto, Ontario
416-977-6000 Ext. 268
www.ocad.ca
bookartsfair@gmail.com

Source: OCAD - Events Calendar

Why the Kindle Will Succeed: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device

2007-11-21T22:41:00.001-05:00

I have been wanting to get an e-ink reader for the last couple of years now. Only recently have they become more mainstream, but they're still not ready yet in my opinion.

The Amazon Kindle is unique in that it downloads subscriptions and e-books using EDVO rather than USB or Wifi. EDVO is a cellular network technology, and Amazon is eating the wireless costs (for now).

With free access to Wikipedia and $9.99/book access to all the NY Times Bestsellers, and 80,000 other books, and access to Word documents, it really provides a case for buying an e-book reader, and could be a success on the level of iTunes.

The word Kindle seems to indicate that this is really the beginning of what is to come. Now if only if I could use the thing to copy directly from my PDFs or even CHMs (Help files) to the Kindle, without any conversion steps or loss of formatting.

Truly innovative products should promote either a strong need for or a strong aversion to adoption. Change both excites and frightens people, and a truly innovative product (the automobile, electricity, the computer) should provoke these reactions, and not a sense of mediocracy.

Plus it supports newspapers and blogs... and audiobooks... and photos.

And it provokes strong reactions, with over 500 reviews and a 2 1/2 star rating. But it's #1 in the Kindle Store!

A disgrace to every book-lover! (no stars), November 21, 2007

What I don't understand is why a supposedly "book-loving" person like Jeff Bezos can think that digitally "improving" books will work. If he is such a book-lover, then why would he disgrace the book by creating the literary equivalent of an iPod? Now, I myself am a big fan of the iPod but it is totally different. it's ok to have all your music in one place, but books? A book is one of the most priceless things on this planet. Books shouldn't even have a price, and only should to benefit the author, who, unlike many people, took time out of their lives to create this masterpiece for people to spend hours reading it, the spine cracking as the story progresses, the sweat of the hands smeared on the cover, its edge slowly curling up. How could anybody replace this with a wireless gizmo that doesn't even allow someone to buy an actual physical book ,let alone touch it, smell its pages. Surely there is an explanation and here's mine: humans are getting more stupid each day because of pointless technology such as this, which in turn keeps us from partaking in intellectual things like reading. Books are becoming extinct, and if this is the only way to help bring them back, then God help us. This device is not a helping hand...it's an abomination.

Source: Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Kindle: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device

Good idea, but need to be improved., November 21, 2007

. I want touch screen.
. I want a electronic pen.
. I want audio.
. I want video.
. I want multiple language dictionary.
. I want it can store more books.
. I want it cheaper.
. I want the eBook cheaper.
. I want .....

Academic Productivity » Speech to Text: timesaver or time waster?

2007-11-14T13:58:00.001-05:00

Could Microsoft One Note & a speech PowerToys be the ultimate idea capture tool?

Some advantages of Audio from the Academic Productivity blog...

The first advantage is that audio forces linearity on you.
The second advantage is that dictating also prevents multi-tasking; that is, when you are doing your audio recording, you cannot be working on all things at the same time.
The third advantage of audio is that it removes a barrier of entry for developing an idea.
A fourth advantage of dictating is that it is actually hands-free; so you could do something, -again, only if you really have to multi-task while you are dictating-.

Academic Productivity » Speech to Text: timesaver or time waster?

Start with Audacity.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Hit MS for the SDKs or grab Dragon Dictate.

http://www.microsoft.com/speech

Dig up a speech to text OneNote powertoy.

http://www.mperfect.net/oneNoteToys/

And see what happens...

More info here.

http://blogs.msdn.com/chris_pratley/archive/2006/03/16/audio-transcriptions-and-annotations-with-onenote.aspx

Microsoft Sql Server 2008 & its ability to work with unstructured data may shine with audio and video-based applications.

There are plenty of applications for speech recognition as both an idea capture tool, and a transcription tool for things like voice mail (Skype's doing it now) & accessibility. If you don't feel too strange about talking to yourself, that is...

Of course, it's probably more fun to make Holograms in One Note...

The Personal MBA Recommended Reading List: Mastering Business Through Self-Education (Recommended Business Books)

2007-11-14T13:57:00.001-05:00

The path to higher learning is through... reading? Do you learn better through listening, reading, or doing?

Business schools don’t have a monopoly on worldly wisdom. If you're serious about learning advanced business principles, the Personal MBA can help. The Personal MBA recommended reading list is the tangible result of hundreds of hours of reading and research, and features only the very best books the business press has to offer. So skip the fancy diploma and $150,000 loan - you can get a world-class business education simply by reading these books.
To learn more about the Personal MBA, read the manifesto.

The Personal MBA Recommended Reading List: Mastering Business Through Self-Education (Recommended Business Books)

New York Ghostbusters Tour

2007-11-11T10:18:00.001-05:00

Google takes you on a tour of the shooting locations for Ghostbusters.

http://www.ironicsans.com/2006/04/the_ultimate_interactive_googl_1.html

and others

http://www.movielocationsguide.com/movie_location_maps/New_York_Filming_Locations.php

http://googlesightseeing.com/locality/continents/north-america/states/newyork/

MIT alleges flaws in Gehry building - Yahoo! News

2007-11-07T06:05:00.001-05:00

Uh oh. The Art Gallery of Ontario looks strangely familiar to this building...

So it has a few problems and cost over $315 million dollars. It looks cool...

The school asserts that the center, completed in spring 2004, has persistent leaks, drainage problems and mold growing on its brick exterior. It says accumulations of snow and ice have fallen dangerously from window boxes and other areas of its roofs, blocking emergency exits and causing damage.

Source: MIT alleges flaws in Gehry building - Yahoo! News

The AGO is estimating it will cost $500 million to redo their design. I hope it will handle the snow load!

» Killer traffic: By the numbers • Spacing Toronto • understanding the urban landscape

2007-11-06T10:27:00.001-05:00

Something tells me we need to move... *cough* *cough*

Cross-posted from Eye Daily.
1,700: The number of premature deaths in Toronto that exposure to smog pollutants contribute to each year.
6,000: The number of hospitalizations.
85, 69: The percentage of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide, respectively, that vehicles are responsible for emitting into Toronto’s air.
35: The percentage of the total greenhouse gas emission contributed by the transportation sector in Toronto.
75: The percentage increase in the number of vehicles traveling into and out of the city each morning over the past two decades.
67: The percentage of trips into Toronto made by single occupant vehicles.
20: The percentage of trips made by public transit (including GO bus, GO train, regional bus and TTC).
440: The number of premature deaths Toronto traffic pollution contributes to each year.
1,700: The number of annual hospitalizations associated with traffic pollution in Toronto.
1,200: The number of children estimated to experience acute bronchitis episodes per year as a result of traffic pollution.
67,000: The number of acute respiratory symptom days associated with traffic-related pollution.
200,000: The number of restricted activity days during which people spend days in bed or cut down on their usual activities.
30: The percentage reduction in motor vehicle emissions in Toronto that could save nearly 200 lives and result in $900 million in health benefits annually.

» Killer traffic: By the numbers • Spacing Toronto • understanding the urban landscape

dlM VST plugins - gotta have more cowbell

2007-11-04T20:56:00.001-05:00

Check out the demo track from Van Halen... still needs more cowbell.

http://www.audiofudge.com/content/music/dynamite_demo_1.mp3

dynamite cowbell brings you more cowbell than even Gene Frenkle can deliver
6 cowbells mapped to midi keys
5 velocity layers
close and room mic levels
damping control
5 bonus digibells
1 cow

Source: dlM plugins

Slave to the machine

2007-11-04T06:03:00.001-05:00

The PC is not yet a utility. It is not a light that you turn on when you want to read. It is a seemingly-aware piece of machinery that likes to piss you off.

Is it the machinery, or is it the software inside the machinery that really likes to mess you up? That depends on whether you've ever had a hard drive failure, your new monitor doesn't turn on, or it does but the screen turns blue every time you click your email icon. Mostly it's just self-installing spyware, poorly installed applications, viruses, broken updates, and other software bugs that get the best of us. Usually we do it to ourselves, though it's easy to blame the PC for why we don't have a backup of our important files or haven't updated our virus definitions since 2001.

I spent 3 days trying to reinstall Office 2003 after uninstalling a trial version of Visio 2007. When I installed the trial to learn more about the software for an upcoming exam, the Windows Installer kept popping up whenever I checked my email in Outlook. Visio 2007 must have some powerful Outlook 2003 integration, because I could not get rid of that popup box for the life of me.

I uninstalled Visio 2007. Piece of cake, except that now all of my Office apps except for OneNote (my favourite app) stopped working. This wouldn't have been a problem, if I didn't need to use spreadsheets, email, and documents every once and awhile. Reinstalling Office just hung the installation package. Uninstalling office failed with an unexplainable error.

I downloaded the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility, which ominously warned that it shouldn't be used to uninstall Office 2007. No problems there, Office 2007 uninstalls like a champ. :) I ran the cleanup utility, checked off the Office 2003 install, and removed it.

Removing the add/remove programs link got me one step further, since I was now able to step through the install without it taunting me with a progress bar that went back and forth endlessly. I proceeded with the custom install (deselecting Office Assistant - die clippy, select everything else) and clicked the usual Next, Next, Next. As soon as it checked for free disk space, it told me I had 0 bytes free on the highlighted drive.

Since I have something like a terabyte and a half of disk space, I was a bit concerned. I checked the highlighted drive, and, sure enough, no disk space.

It was the DVD drive.

Not sure how you free up space on a DVD drive, but I put a blank DVD in anyway. No go. Not going to happen. I was not going to free up space on that one. There's no way I could find to disable the drive letter from software either. Power down the computer, unplug the DVD, power up. Run the reinstall. Now I was getting a failure on drive I:, my DVD drive. Search the registry for I:, see a bunch of references, give up.

Give up? Not quite. If the I: drive was missing, I had 26 other drive letters to choose from. Moving D: to I: solved the issue. Halfway through the install, the PC threw up another dialog in my face - can't find SKU11.CAB or something like that. Searching the install media I found no files called SKU11.

Searching Google brought me to a page where 1000 other people had the same issue. Apparently this is something to do with the DVD drive and caching of files during the installation process. Hacking the registry some more solved the issue, and I was able to reinstall.

Email? Check. Word? Check. Excel? Check. DVD Drive? Nope.

Power down, install DVD drive, power up.

My Leopard-meter just clicked over a few notches.

Link to Apple - Mac OS X Leopard

OneNote Testing : A tool to import texts from Project Gutenberg

2007-11-01T10:53:00.001-05:00

Speaking of Project Gutenberg... if you're not using OneNote you need to get it.

Here's the tool I wrote to import "Project Gutenberg" (link: http://www.gutenberg.org) texts into OneNote. The first link goes to the setup files, and the second has the code if you want to see that.
http://johnguin.members.winisp.net/Shared%20Documents/GutenWinSetup.zip
http://johnguin.members.winisp.net/Shared%20Documents/GutenWinSource.zip

OneNote Testing : A tool to import texts from Project Gutenberg