Friday, October 31, 2003

Matrix-XP
This is a cool Matrix movie spoof... Check it out...

Dynamism Inc.
Many Japanese consumer electronics are available in Japan 6-12 months (or longer) before we ever see them in the US. Well Dynamism is trying to change that, by making these products available sooner then later. Although, there are two draw backs to using this web sites; first you will pay more for these electronics; second sometimes the documentation and/or hardware and application are not available in English.



What Does It Really Cost to Print?
If own an ink jet printer, then you have seen how expensive it is to buy ink for these printers. Depending on the printer, it can be cheaper to buy a new printer then it is to buy new ink jet cartridges when you run out of ink. This is first article that I have seen, that exposes the real cost of these printers.



ADSL v2.0++
The current standard ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) is getting old, and has several limits. New standard called ADSL2 promises faster speed, a greater reach from the phone company's central office.



Antispam methods aim to merge
The Anti-Spam Research Group (ASRG) of the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) early this month formed a subcommittee to select one of a few competing protocols that verify the e-mail sender is who they say they are.



Dyke to open up BBC archive
Greg Dyke, director general of the BBC, has announced plans to give the public full access to all the corporation's program archives. This article was published August 24, 2003, now where are the archives?



The Hidden Costs of IT Outsourcing
I will not hide the fact that I am not a big fan of outsourcing, because the lost of American I.T. jobs. Although, this is a great article about its true costs of outsourcing, this is also not first article that I have read to make this point.



Knee Defender
When flying in coach, are you tired of the people in front of you crushing you when they recline their seat. Well, Ira Goldman got tired of this and decided to do something about it, so he invented the Knee Defender. It is a small block of plastic that prevents the seat in front of you from reclining.

The device sell for $10 on the web site, and the FAA says that it doesn't violates any regulations. Although some airlines are already prohibiting them to avoid conflict or people forcing their seats back and breaking the tray table.

Monday, October 27, 2003

Kids Play
What happens when you let today's kids play old video games (such as: Donkey Kong). If you read the following articles you can read some funny comments and views that they made.

New Ways to Recycle Old Computers:
- My Other VAX is a VAXbar
- The Silicon Graphics Refrigerator Project
(or: How To Turn a $175.000 High-End SGI Challenge DM Server into a Fridge)

Thursday, October 23, 2003

X10 files for Chapter 11

Have you ever seen any of the famous X10 pop-under ads. This company known for having popularizing this technology. Well they have just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

My question to everyone is, will anyone miss them?

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

Sites of the Day

Site for the geek who has everything:
- Libermann Inc.: This site has very highend computer equipment and perpherials.
- ThinkGeek: This site just has lots of cool stuff...

Test Your Typing Skills for Free
- http://www.typingtest.com/

Fun Site:
Check out NaDa, it does absolutely nothing for free.
- http://www.bernardbelanger.com/computing/NaDa/

Monday, October 20, 2003

Fun Streaming Video Sites:
- I want my Flash TV (Requires a Flash media player) Worth checking out...
- Stupid Videos Very funny site.

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

I have been waiting for the BBC to post their TV/radio archives on the web for several months, but I recently found this web site.

British Pathe Publishes Newsreel Archives

A collection of more than 12 million historic photographs from the British Pathe newsreel, was published on the Internet Monday. The British Pathe a cinema news service that pre-dated television.

The images, which date as far back to the turn of the 20th century, have been created by scanning the archive's 3,500 hours of 35mm film.

Saturday, October 11, 2003

New Product

Check out a production called MessagEase, it calls itself 'the only cross-platform text entry interface technology for the emerging mobile devices'. It is a pretty cool concept that allows you to quickly enter text into just about any mobile device (from phones to PDA).

Friday, October 10, 2003

Interesting Tidbits...

Cloaking Device Made for Spammers
Spammers are annoying enough, but now they're getting together with hackers to create techniques that essentially make certain web sites untraceable. This make the war against spam is just like the drug war, it is only possible to put a small dent in the distribution of it.

Shift key breaks CD copy locks
A Princeton University student has published instructions for disabling a new anti-copying measures being tested on CDs by BMG, and it can as simple as holding down Shift key on your computer keyboard.

Commentary: Every single copy protection scheme has been cracked, and will be cracked. Some forms of copy protection are more sophisticated then others, and can be harder to break.

I do not advocate software piracy in any form, and I encourage people to support the copyright owners by buying the product(s) that they use. Athough personally, I despise any form of copy protection technology, I would encourage people not to buy products that use this technology.

They only reason that I am publishing the link to the story above to demonstrate a point about how easy some copy protection schemes can be broken.

Saturday, October 04, 2003

USDA National Nutrient Database

Are you interest in the nutriential information of certian foods, then check out the two links below:
- USDA National Nutrient Database (Online)
- USDA National Nutrient Database for Windows

Wednesday, October 01, 2003

Rayovac’s I-C3 Technology Makes 15-Minute Charger the First of its Kind

I have to admit that I am not a big fan of Rayovac's technology, but I am big fan of rechargeable batteries. Their new rechargeable battery system is suppose to fully change a battery in 15 minutes or less and do it up to thousand times. These batteries are also suppose to last longer (up to 4x) than alkaline batteries in certain devices

For more information click here.

I wonder how much more expensive the charger and batteries are?

The Ultimate Monitor Hoax

It turns out that Liebermann Inc. 92" Grand Canyon monitor is a hoax . I hate falling for this stuff, but I was not the only one. See the post from September 29th for more information.

Links-O-Rama

Computers:
- Windows Longhorn Build 4029 Gallery 2: Early screen shots of next version of desktop version of Windows.
- Silent pump for water-cooled PCs developed (Electro-osmosis): CPU are running hotter and hotter, and fans are having a hard time keeping chips cool. Enter liquid cooling, it cools the chips better and it's quiet. The biggest problem is the expense, and the case modifications that are required
- Using cellophane to convert a laptop computer screen into a three-dimensional display: The poor mans 3D display.

Fun:
- The latest works (Optical Illusions): This site features some cool optical illusions.
- Free 3-D papercraft projects: This site features some awesome paper projects.

Weird:
- Modified car, driving backwards through traffic (14Meg): This is just a weird video...

Movies:
- Matrix Revolution Trailer: This site has one of the worst navigation systems I have ever seen, but it try hard enough you will find the trailer and a bunch of other cool stuff.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King trailer: I think the title speaks for itself.