Thursday, December 27, 2007

QTTabBar: Add Tabs to Windows Explorer

QuizoApps: QTTabBar

from Maximum PC:

1. Download
2. Unzip
3. Install
4. Right-click on the menu bar of Windows Explorer and add both the QT TabBar and the QT Tab Standard Buttons (note: I had to unlock the task bar and adjust to see them)

"Tabs work much like they do in Firefox, with some new tricks available: Dragging a file from one window to another tab in order to move it to another folder is an especially nifty convenience."

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Email: How To Reset Your Password If Your Yahoo Account Is Hacked

Email: How To Reset Your Password If Your Yahoo Account Is Hacked

A friend of a friend's Yahoo account was hacked and now all the guy's personal and professional contacts are getting emails saying that he's stuck in Africa and needs to be wired money immediately. Here's some solutions we found that might help him reset his password.
  • Call 866-562-7219, press 2, press 2. Be ready to provide DOB, date account was hacked, some details about the last emails you accessed, and the answer to your secret question.
  • Repeatedly email customer service at mail@cc.yahoo-inc.com
  • Email account-security-help@cc.yahoo-inc.com, in the subject line, put your old password.
  • Call 1-(408) 349-1572, tell them you're a premium member (even if you're not), they will transfer you to password department.

  • Have you ever gotten your Yahoo account hacked? How easy/hard was it to regain control of it?

    Friday, December 21, 2007

    YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

    YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

    Does your organization have a compelling story to tell? Do you want to connect with your supporters, volunteers, and donors but don't have the funds to launch expensive outreach campaigns?

    YouTube can help. Video is a powerful way to show your organization's impact and needs, and with a designated "Nonprofit" channel on YouTube, you can deliver your message to the world's largest online video community.

    Thursday, December 20, 2007

    Theory of Everything?

    Is mathematical pattern the theory of everything? - fundamentals - 17 November 2007 - New Scientist

    GARRETT LISI is an unlikely individual to be staking a claim for a theory of everything. He has no university affiliation and spends most of the year surfing in Hawaii. In winter, he heads to the mountains near Lake Tahoe, California, to teach snowboarding. Until recently, physics was not much more than a hobby.

    That hasn't stopped some leading physicists sitting up and taking notice after Lisi made his theory public on the physics pre-print archive this week (www.arxiv.org/abs/0711.0770). By analysing the most elegant and intricate pattern known to mathematics, Lisi has uncovered a relationship underlying all the universe's particles and forces, including gravity - or so he hopes. Lee Smolin at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI) in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, describes Lisi's work as 'fabulous'. 'It is one of the most compelling unification models I've seen in many, many years,' he says.

    That's some achievement, ...

    see also the geebus

    Friday, December 14, 2007

    Google tests Wikipedia-like knowledge pages on Web | Industries | Technology, Media & Telecommunications | Reuters

    Reuters

    NEW YORK, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Web search leader Google Inc is testing an Internet site for sharing knowledge about any subject under the sun, one that could eventually compete with the popular user-edited encyclopedia Wikipedia.

    Google's 'knol' project started earlier this week and is working with a group of writers by invitation only, Google vice president of engineering Udi Manber wrote in a company blog post.

    'There are millions of people who possess useful knowledge that they would love to share, and there are billions of people who can benefit from it,' Manber said in the post.

    'The goal is for knols to cover all topics, from scientific concepts, to medical information ... to how-to-fix-it instructions.'

    The word 'knol' is used to refer to the project and to an entry on the shared Web site. Google's site will identify the authors posting the information. It will not serve as an editor of the information or endorse what is written on the site.

    The site will eventually be opened to the general public and allow users to submit comments, questions or edits, as well as rate posts. Knol writers will be able to include ads in their posts, sharing the revenue with Google.

    Wednesday, December 05, 2007

    Google unveils integrated services application for iPhone - Yahoo! News

    Google unveils integrated services application for iPhone - Yahoo! News

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - Google Inc is releasing a new application for Apple Inc's iPhone that combines the Web leader's services such as e-mail, search and calendar into a single interface.


    See also Mashable

    Thursday, November 29, 2007

    Today @ PC World 3G iPhone Coming in '08, AT&T CEO Says

    Today @ PC World 3G iPhone Coming in '08, AT&T CEO Says

    If the idea of giving or receiving an iPhone this holiday season is lingering in the back of your mind, you may want to hold off on that purchase because a significant iPhone upgrade may be coming sooner than you think.

    In a meeting yesterday in California, Randall Stephenson, AT&T's chief executive officer said that a 3G variant of the iPhone will be available next year, according to Bloomberg. Stephenson added that a price for the revised iPhone has yet to be determined and that Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs, would be the one to set the price.

    Since the iPhone's launch this summer, one of the primary complaints has been slow data speeds, as result of the decision to limit the iPhone to EDGE speeds. Jobs said that the decision to not include 3G support in the iPhone initially surrounded how it would impact the iPhone's battery life. He called the chips used for 3G technology "real power hogs" and that battery life of 3G devices hover in the sub-five hour range. Currently the iPhone has a rated battery life of eight hours. In PC World lab tests the iPhone had a battery life of 10 hours.

    Apple has made it very clear it has a 10 million unit sales goal is set for the end of 2008. A significant upgrade such as 3G speeds to the iPhone may be the boost needed to accomplish the goal, as long as Apple can still maintain a reasonable battery.

    The 3G iPhone would be the second big iPhone upgrade slated for 2008. Previously, Apple announced that a Software Developers Kit would be made available for the handset in February, opening up potential for homegrown applications on the iPhone. The idea of 3G speeds on the iPhone also opens up the idea for more powerful applications that require broadband-like speeds to be utilized by the iPhone, such as mobile TV and other streaming media applications.

    Don't hold your breath for an exact release date. Apple isn't known for early and timely release date announcements, especially after pushing the iPhone release until the last possible minute (June 29 at 6:00 pm) of its original June-release target date. With Apple's largest event, MacWorld, more than a month away, we can only hope that more information will be made available then, especially given that MacWorld 2008 will be the iPhone's one-year announcement anniversary.

    Wednesday, November 21, 2007

    Thursday, November 15, 2007

    twango

    Twango.com YouTube for everything (i.e., more than just video hosting)

    Nokia acquires Twango

    Wednesday, October 31, 2007

    $200 Ubuntu Linux PC Now Available at Wal-Mart | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

    $200 Ubuntu Linux PC Now Available at Wal-Mart | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

    Everex_gpc_tc2502

    Everex's TC2502 gPC is the first mass-market $200 desktop computer, featuring a custom distribution of Ubuntu Linux and headed for selected Wal-Mart stores.

    Sunday, October 28, 2007

    Optimus Upravlator keyboard

    Optimus Upravlator keyboard


    The Upravlator keyboard is an input device of a new type. Within the case, a 10.8″ LCD screen with a resolution of 800×600 pixels is enclosed. Over the screen, there is a board with 12 transparent buttons. Every button features four contacts (at the top, at the bottom, on the left, and on the right). Pressing the button in the middle is possible, too (“fifth contact”).

    McAfee SiteAdvisor - Firefox Extension Download

    McAfee SiteAdvisor - Firefox Extension Download

    Thanks for installing McAfee SiteAdvisor!

    You should now see a small McAfee SiteAdvisor button on the bottom right of your Firefox browser (in your status bar).


    As you browse the Internet, the button will change color to advise you of SiteAdvisor's test results.

    You can click on the McAfee SiteAdvisor button to display a menu which will give you more options and allow you to customize SiteAdvisor.

    One good way to see SiteAdvisor in action is to try searching for certain "dangerous" search terms on Google or Yahoo!.

    Wednesday, October 24, 2007

    Official Google Reader Blog: You can now use Google Reader from your phone.

    Official Google Reader Blog: You can now use Google Reader from your phone.

    You can now use Google Reader from your phone.

    Thursday, May 18, 2006 by Chris Wetherell

    Google Reader can now be placed in your pocket, your handbag, your backpack, or thrown from person to person in a game of "keep away". We've just released a mobile-friendly interface for Google Reader.

    If you use the Google Personalized Homepage and have installed our Reader Homepage Module, it'll automatically show up on your mobile homepage. Simply go to google.com on your mobile phone's browser and click the link to "Personalized Home".

    It's great for browsing your reading list during meetings (not that the Reader team is doing this) or while waiting in line to renew your car registration.

    Wednesday, October 10, 2007

    Google Buys Phone Software Firm - New York Times

    Google Buys Phone Software Firm - New York Times:

    "MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 9 (AP) — Google said Tuesday that it had bought the Finnish start-up Jaiku, which makes a mobile phone application people can use to send short messages about where they are and what they are doing."

    Wednesday, September 05, 2007

    ASUS Eee PC - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    ASUS Eee PC - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Popular Science: Asus slashed the price by using a low-cost Linux operating system, which zips along even on an inexpensive processor and a few gigabytes of flash memory.

    estimated price $2-300.

    Wednesday, August 01, 2007

    Wednesday, July 11, 2007

    bloggingheads Flash 1.0

    New flash format coming soon. Will allow embedding diavlogs elsewhere, dingalinks to work on all browsers, etc.

    Sunday, July 01, 2007

    YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

    YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.: "We specifically recommend the MPEG4 (Divx, Xvid) format at 320x240 resolution with MP3 audio. Resizing your video to these specifications before uploading will help your clips look better on YouTube."Publish

    Thursday, June 28, 2007

    Tuesday, June 26, 2007

    A New Kind of Demonstration

    Earlier this month you should have received Stephen Wolfram's announcement that we have released a radically new version of Mathematica.

    We wanted to follow up and point you to a major resource that our new technology has made possible: The Wolfram Demonstrations Project.

    The Wolfram Demonstrations Project is a free site dedicated to a new form of interactive demonstration.

    Already, there are more than 1,300 Demonstrations on the site, and we are rapidly receiving new contributions in a remarkable range of areas.

    Any Mathematica 6 user can author a Demonstration and submit it to the site. Published Demonstrations can be downloaded and run by anyone--even those without Mathematica 6--using the new free Mathematica Player.

    We hope you'll have a chance to take a look. Please give us your comments and suggestions--and, of course, consider publishing your own Demonstrations on the site.

    Best wishes,

    The Wolfram Demonstrations Project Team
    http://demonstrations.wolfram.com

    Monday, June 25, 2007

    Jott & Twitter

    Posting to Twitter via Jott

    Good evening folks. I've been getting lots of questions from my on-line buddies as to how I've gotten things setup to post from my Jott account to my twitter page.

    In case you're not aware, Jott is a service that allows you to call a number from a cellular or land line based phone and have your messages transcribed into text. Twitter is a service that allows you to keep all your friends updated with what you're doing, in the manner in which they prefer with short messages via phone, IM, or web.

    I've been using these two services for a few months now and decided the other day that it would be pretty cool if I could easily hook the two of them together so that I could simply call a number and post to twitter by simply speaking my mind. This turned out to be incredibly simple and required no coding at all.

    Here's the deal in a nutshell.

    1. Create a blog that allows for e-mail publishing and automatically creates an RSS feed for you. I use Blogger.
    2. Create a Jott account and a contact in that account that posts to the e-mail address in step 1.
    3. Create a twitterfeed account and setup a twitterfeed using the RSS feed from the blog in step 1 to post to your twitter page.
    4. Start posting to twitter via jott.

    That's pretty much it. You can see my blog that is dedicated to providing this posting capability here. This is of course different from my desire to have my twitter comments weaved into my blog posts. I'm currently archiving all of my twitters, sent via the manner describe here, or via other means, to this blog.

    Eventually I'm going to use some of the "life streaming" code floating around the net to splice all of my on-line activity together. This will due for now.

    Let me know if you have any questions or need clarification. If you think this post was useful, please Digg it or link to it for me. I'd like to see what happens if we get multiple people using this method.

    Sunday, June 24, 2007

    Smart Mobs: Set up a free, web conference page in minutes with Web 2.0 tools

    Smart Mobs: Set up a free, web conference page in minutes with Web 2.0 tools

    Set up a web page with tables, click on a few URLs, copy and paste some code, and you have an instant web conference room, with voice, text chat, and slide-sharing in a matter of minutes. Free. Point to this when someone asks what Web 2.0 means.


    Internal HTC Document reveals more Shift (X9500) info! - Kornel's Blog - News - UMPCPortal.com

    Internal HTC Document reveals more Shift (X9500) info! - Kornel's Blog - News - UMPCPortal.com

    This linked PDF of HTC's new lineup reveals a ton of info about the Shift UMPC.
    Codenamed "Shangri-La" (Model number X9500) this one will run on Intel's 800mhz processor and have 1GB of Ram as well as 30 or 40GB of HDD depending on the model.

    What the big news is, it will run both Windows Vista and Windows Mobile 6 Professional! This will allow for instant on in HTC's newest device, which is starting to look a lot like the cPC that was never released... It will include 128mb of ROM and 64mb of RAM for WM6.

    Another positive aspect is that along with the built in GPS, there is a VGA cam, MiniSD slot and a Fingerprint reader. Bluetooth and WiFi are also standard. Now the disappointing thing: the screen is only 800x480.

    Wednesday, June 20, 2007

    Microsoft Surface Video - Touchscreen, Multi Touch Coffee Table - Behind the Scenes - Popular Mechanics

    Microsoft Surface Video - Touchscreen, Multi Touch Coffee Table - Behind the Scenes - Popular Mechanics: "Microsoft Surface: Behind-the-Scenes First Look (with Video)
    The software giant has built a new touchscreen computer—a coffee table that will change the world. Go inside its top-secret development with PopularMechanics.com, then forget the keyboard and mouse: The next generation of computer interfaces will be hands-on."

    Saturday, June 02, 2007

    GottaBeMobile.com - How to buy a UMPC or Tablet PC - Your Tablet PC, Ultra-Mobile PC, and Mobile Internet Device news source

    GottaBeMobile.com - How to buy a UMPC or Tablet PC - Your Tablet PC, Ultra-Mobile PC, and Mobile Internet Device news source

    If there is one question I get asked more often than anything it would have to be “Which is the best Tablet PC?” For those of us watching this space closely we tend to agree that there is no such thing. It seems that each and every time I cough up cash for a new Tablet I think loooooooong and haaaaaaaaaaaaard smaaaaaaaaart about my choice. At present I am in between Tablets (in between 17 of them to be exact) so I thought I would take this opportunity to express, or put done on blog at least, some of my thoughts regarding the buying process. I know some of you own Tablets already and perhaps are looking for a second one; while I know many of you are still contemplating your first. So for all of you reading this post…the following is a definitive account of how to buy a Tablet PC. (I’ve even prepared a special spreadsheet for you to use when you’re done reading.)

    read on...

    Saturday, May 12, 2007

    Red Hat plans low cost Linux "Global Desktop" OS - Engadget

    Red Hat plans low cost Linux "Global Desktop" OS - Engadget

    What with the OLPC project and Intel planning to make cheap computing for the masses, we've got to wonder what the world was playing at up until now. As the..."emerging markets" start to emerge, Red Hat is getting into the low cost computing game with the "Red Hat Global Desktop," a low requirement operating system and software package which was announced at the Red Hat Summit in San Diego. The system will include a range of productivity applications, management systems that work on a scale of 10 to 10,000, plus what the Red Hat guys call a "modern user experience": fingers crossed that means no command lines. The Global Desktop is part of Red Hat's involvement with the One Laptop Per Child project, but it'll also be supported on Intel's range of lower specification and cost computer line; if your wish is to replace Microsoft's little OS.

    Tuesday, May 08, 2007

    Mozy: Online Backup

    Mozy: Online Backup

    What do you think of this? Security? Privacy?

    Thursday, April 26, 2007

    DailyKos Search - dKosopedia

    DailyKos Search - dKosopedia:

    300 diaries a day. At maybe 500 words per diary average, that's 150,000 words every day, a mid-sized book's worth. And that's not even counting the comments, which add hundreds of thousands of words. Every day.

    Truly, trying to keep up with Daily Kos is like trying to take a drink from a firehose. And that pales in comparison with the fun job of trying to find something that was written yesterday, last week, or six months ago, that just might be worth looking at today.

    This page is here to help.

    This will cover 6 general categories of ways to cope with the mass of content we all collectively generate: the diary list, the hotlist, diary compendia, tagging, searching, and RSS feeds. Each will be looked at to see how they are useful (or not) for both filtering the daily diary deluge and for looking for information after the fact. That link once again.

    Sunday, April 22, 2007

    Windows File Sharing with TCP/IP - Practically Networked Forums

    Windows File Sharing with TCP/IP - Practically Networked Forums:

    "This is a general checklist for sharing files between PCs in a peer to peer network. There can be other reasons for problems but I think most people new to networking and finding sharing a problem will find the answer somewhere in this checklist.

    These checks are all necessary for sharing to work with TCP/IP.
    - PCs which are not XP must have TCP/IP installed.
    - Each PC must have a unique computer name.
    - Each PC must have a network share defined.
    - ALL NICS must be on the same subnet (e.g. IP 192.168.0.* subnet mask 255.255.255.0).
    - XP PCs must have Netbios over TCP/IP enabled (only essential for XP to talk to W9X PCs).
    - MS Client and file & printer sharing must be enabled on each NIC.
    - All NICs must have their node type = anything except p-node (peer to peer, or point-point). Check at cmd prompt with Ipconfig /all (XP/W2K) or winipcfg (W9X).
    - XP's ICF firewall is permanently disabled. (Only necessary for pre XP SP2).
    - All 3rd party firewalls are disabled, uninstalled and deleted (until connection is working).
    - PCs have the same workgroup (helps, but not essential).

    Allow 15 mins after rebooting a PC for that PC to appear in the workgroup, or for it to see all other PCs. Or you can search for the PC by its computer name.

    If all the above checked out and still a problem check these:"

    Google Browser Sync

    Google Browser Sync for Firefox is an extension that continuously synchronizes your browser settings – including bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords – across your computers. It also allows you to restore open tabs and windows across different machines and browser sessions. For more info, please visit our FAQ.

    Install Now

    Extensionbrowsersync.xpi

    Saturday, April 21, 2007

    Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) Responder (KB922120)

    This package contains the Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) responder. The network map on a computer running Windows Vista shows a graphical view of the computers and devices on your network and how they are connected by using the LLTD protocol. The LLTD responder must be installed on a computer running Windows XP before it can be detected and appear on the network map. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

    Also: Internet Options/Connections/LAN Settings: check box automatically detect settings

    Then, once you see the LAN in the Network and Sharing Center, click on View Status/properties/Sharing (I checked these 2 boxes, not sure if this made a difference or not)

    Finally on syncing files: I was able to map to an XP folder from Vista and make it available offline (so the original still lives on Vista), but not the other way around. So I have my key folder living on my XP machine and the Vista machine and the Tablet both sync to it.

    Better Gmail, a Firefox extension

    Yesterday Gina released Better Gmail, a Firefox extension that integrates the best Gmail user scripts under one easy-to-manage Firefox extension. Whether you're using the extension or the Greasemonkey scripts, these add-ons turn Gmail into an entirely new and wildly powerful email tool.

    The problem is, you've got to know what you're doing to take advantage of what Better Gmail has to offer. That's why today, I'll show you how to use Better Gmail along with a few other Gmail add-ons to turn Gmail into the best email application you've ever used.

    Better Gmail, a Firefox extension

    Yesterday Gina released Better Gmail, a Firefox extension that integrates the best Gmail user scripts under one easy-to-manage Firefox extension. Whether you're using the extension or the Greasemonkey scripts, these add-ons turn Gmail into an entirely new and wildly powerful email tool.

    The problem is, you've got to know what you're doing to take advantage of what Better Gmail has to offer. That's why today, I'll show you how to use Better Gmail along with a few other Gmail add-ons to turn Gmail into the best email application you've ever used.

    Friday, April 20, 2007

    User Account Control

    I think you'll want to turn User Account Control off. It will otherwise drive you nuts e.g. "you don't have permisssion to save to that folder." Hopefully turning it off eliminated some other annoyances too...we'll see.

    Anyway click on the flower in ther Start menu and that is where you can turn it off or on.

    Tuesday, April 17, 2007

    DVI Single link vs. Dual link

    DVI Single link vs. Dual link

    or is the issue DVI-D vs DVI-I?

    5. What is the difference between DVI-I vs. DVI-D?

    These are the two most confusing digital connectors available. DVI-D allows for digital only signal transmission. However, DVI-I allows for digital or analog signals to pass over this cable/connector. You could have a VGA connector on one end of a cable and a DVI-I connector on the other and transmit an analog signal to the display. You could also have a DVI-I or DVI-D connector on one end and transmit a digital signal. The DVI-D male connector will connect/transmit with a DVI-I female. The DVI-D female connector will not connect/transmit with the DVI-I male. Contact us if you have further questions about these connectors.

    Vegas & Vista

    I called Sony today: Vegas 8.0 will work with Vista, but they don't have an estimate of when it will be out. Vegas 7.0 is missing some features when run on Vista, but apparently it still runs (cite):

    Sony Vegas 7.0 Vegas+DVD

    Sony Vegas hasn't been patched for Vista yet and some features don't function. The media manager, for example, relies on MSDE (SQL 2000 Lite) and MSDE no longer runs in Vista. Losing the Vegas media manager is not very debilitating, and in fact, the new features in the Vista file browser make it preferable to the media manager.

    The trimmer panel no longer functioned. I was still able to trim in the track view, but the trimmer has tools for slicing up footage in an efficient manner. As a workaround, I pulled my b-roll footage into a new Vegas project, cut it up in there, and then used Edit / Copy and then Edit / Past to move the clips between the b-roll project and the other projects in the production. Not as easy as using the trimmer, but better than having to drag around 20 minutes of B-roll in the same place as a 4 minute segment.


    Another function that didn't work was capture. In XP Vegas can capture HD Mpeg2 streams and standard DV streams without trouble. In Vista, I couldn't load the XP-only JVC GR-HD1 drivers so MPEG2 was out of the question, and for some reason the standard DV capture would just terminate as soon as it started in Vegas. In the end I had to resort to the VT[4] to do my b-roll tape capture. The studio capture was already done direct to disk using the VT[4], so it wasn't much of a hassle. I did test Vista's Movie Maker. It captures DV just fine but you can't control what codec is used and it's a pretty limited tool as well. So, there are options in Vista but you might want to keep an XP box around if you need to rip video from your tapes.

    Sony Vegas’s performance and stability under Vista was just great. For the music video I did a 10 layer composite at one point with motion and optical blur and I thought that if anything threw a wrench, this would. It trundled along (pretty fast because of the quad cores) and I was good to go. This is what you would hope for from your old XP NLE and it remained true in the shiny new Vista one. So while some auxiliary features were missing, the core functions of Vegas are still there.

    See also Creative Cow thread.

    Thursday, April 05, 2007

    FireFox Addon: Cooliris

    I recommend this. It takes a little getting used to, but it's handy. And the right-click-on-a-highlighted-phrase search feature (including a wikipedia option) is by itself worth having.

    Cooliris Previews gives you the power to browse and share Web links and rich media faster. Just mouse over any link, and the Cooliris preview window immediately appears to show you the content. To email it, just click.

    • Simply mouse over the Cooliris link icon, and a preview window will instantly appear to show you the underlying content. No more clicking back and both, or leaving your current page.

    • To email a link instantly, just right-click on any web page.

    Right-click on any phrase to have Cooliris automatically do a subsearch in Google, Wikipedia, or a dictionary.

    • Customize how and when you want the preview window to appear. (See our developer notes below)

    Cooliris Previews does not contain any adware or spyware whatsoever.

    Friday, March 30, 2007

    FireFTP


    FTP Client, integrated with FireFox. It works.

    Saturday, March 17, 2007

    Digital Cube's G43: Smallest UMPC?

    More news from CeBIT. Engadget (and others) are reporting on the tiny G43 form Digital Cube, which is marketed as the “world’s smallest” UMPC. It has a 4.3 inch screen with a 800x480 resolution and runs an AMD Geode LX800/900 processor. Of course it has WiFi, Bluetooth, and according to Engadget a “nice touch-pad mousing interface.”


    Wednesday, March 14, 2007

    Edge 205: Metaweb & Freebase

    In May, 2004, Edge published Danny Hillis's essay in which he proposed Aristotle: The Knowledge Web. "With the knowledge web," he wrote, "humanity's accumulated store of information will become more accessible, more manageable, and more useful. Anyone who wants to learn will be able to find the best and the most meaningful explanations of what they want to know. Anyone with something to teach will have a way to reach those who what to learn. Teachers will move beyond their present role as dispensers of information and become guides, mentors, facilitators, and authors. The knowledge web will make us all smarter. The knowledge web is an idea whose time has come."

    Last week, Hillis announced a new company called Metaweb, and the free database, Freebase.com. The launch was covered by John Markoff in his New York Times article "Start-Up Aims for Database to Automate Web Searching" [3.9.07].

    Below is an addendum to his essay he has written for Edge, a link to Markoff's article, as well as links to the original essay, [and] the subsequent Edge Reality Club discussion.

    Sunday, March 11, 2007

    ScribeFire: Firefox blog editor add-on

    Not bad!



    • b1
    • b2
    1. one
    2. two
    strikeout



    powered by ScribeFire

    (fka Performancing Firefox)

    Thursday, March 08, 2007

    Smart Mobs

    Smart Mobs:

    "Sony Ericsson has filed a patent allowing for a mobile phone that can also operate your TV or Cable Box according to Technowiki.

    Sony Ericsson's idea is even more ingenious, though, as they anticipate the remote control user interface being implemented as a 'skin', which can be downloaded onto the phone either from the device itself or from a website. In other words, the user interface you see on the phone can be changed according to the device you want to use simply by downloading a new interface either from the web, the phone network, or the device itself."

    Friday, February 16, 2007

    Academic Software, Academic Discount : Academic Superstore : Academic Software savings for students, teachers, & schools

    Academic Software, Academic Discount : Academic Superstore : Academic Software savings for students, teachers, & schools

    Adobe - There's a Photoshop for you

    Adobe - There's a Photoshop for you


    Adobe Photoshop CS2

    comparison with

    Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0

    GIMP - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    GIMP - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

    "The GNU Image Manipulation Program, or GIMP, is a raster graphics editor application with some support for vector graphics. The project was started in 1995 by Spencer Kimball and Peter Mattis and is now maintained by a group of volunteers; licensed under the GNU General Public License, GIMP is free software."

    Monday, February 12, 2007

    Using a Widescreen LCD for TV

    Using a Widescreen LCD for TV:

    the Magnolia guy at Best Buy also told me this about the picture quality, but he didn't seem certain.

    " The 2405FPW has to convert the TV images to the higher monitor resolution. This lowers the picture quality, but still gives a good result. More of a problem is that the picture on the 2405FPW looks a little squashed as it is not quite the right aspect ratio for standard wide screen TV."

    Sunday, February 11, 2007

    Saturday, February 10, 2007

    AVG Anti-Virus

    Free program has subpar heuristics and one of the clunkier interfaces among the products we tested. Everyone knows you need antivirus software to combat known threats, but what about those viruses that sneak under the radar before code is written to counteract them? AVG Anti-None of the three free antivirus products tested for the "The New Virus Fighters" ranked highly, but Grisoft's AVG Antivirus Free Edition holds the distinct honor of having placed last among all ten paid and free contenders due to a clunky interface, the omission of significant features, and below-average performance.

    The main interface provides just three options: Scan Computer, Scan Selected Areas, and Check For Updates. Options on the console's left panel, such as the Scheduler, lead to notifications that the features you seek exist only in the paid version of the product, AVG Professional.

    In our performance tests, AVG Free Edition ranked second to last. (Alwil Software's free Avast Home Edition ranked last.) While AVG Free Edition caught nearly 100 percent of bots and zombies in our collection of zoo malware, it caught a disappointing 65 percent of Trojan horses. It ranked second-to-last in our heuristics tests--detecting just 11 percent of worms and 8 percent of backdoor programs using one-month-old virus data.

    Friday, February 02, 2007

    Bill Gates re Vista

    Newsweek

    p. 4

    NW: So can you give us an indication of what the next Windows will be like [i.e., the one after Vista]?

    Gates: Well, it will be more user-centric.

    NW: What does that mean?

    Gates: That means that right now when you move from one PC to another, you've got to install apps on each one, do upgrades on each one. Moving information between them is very painful. We can use Live Services [a way to connect to Microsoft via the Internet] to know what you're interested in. So even if you drop by a [public] kiosk or somebody else's PC, we can bring down your home page, your files, your fonts, your favorites and those things. So that's kind of the user-centric thing that Live Services can enable.

    [Also,] in Vista things got a lot better with [digital] ink and speech but by the next release there will be a much bigger bet. Students won't need textbooks, they can just use these tablet devices. Parallel computing is pretty important for the next release. We'll make it so that a lot of the high-level graphics will be just built into the operating system. So we've got a pretty good outline.

    Whole interview.

    Monday, January 22, 2007

    rich content from the collective

    Updated 1/23/07: upload instructions

    Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall January 22, 2007 12:08 PM:

    "You probably know that Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) is slated to give the Dems' official response to President Bush's State of the Union address tomorrow evening. But what about your response? For years at TPM we've been printing emails from TPM Readers. But how about video? With the proliferation of webcams, phone-cams and video cameras, putting together a short video response to the president's State of the Union address is relatively easy to do for a great number and possibly the majority of our readers.

    So, watch the State of the Union address tomorrow night and then respond. It can be funny or serious, short or long (though shorter the better), focused on a specific point about the president's speech or about the speech in general. It's up to you.

    We won't expect perfect lighting and picture quality. Just so we can see you talking and hear clearly what you're saying.

    Game? If you're interested in participating, let us know today.

    If you have questions, send them in now.

    Later we'll post on how to send submissions in and more details.


    -- Josh Marshall"

    Sunday, January 21, 2007

    Social Media: Sharable Web-based whiteboard

    Social Media: Sharable Web-based whiteboard:

    "Skrbl: Scribble with this Web 2.0 service that serves as an online whiteboard or collaborative space for sharing notes, photos and more. "

    Social Media: Turn your blog into a PDF document

    Social Media: Turn your blog into a PDF document:

    "Turn your blog into a PDF document with SamuraiCode. Works only on a PC and works best with Blogger. You can also turn Flickr photos into a screensaver. Turn your blog into a PDF document with SamuraiCode. Works only on a PC and works best with Blogger. You can also turn Flickr photos into a screensaver. "

    Saturday, January 13, 2007

    AAPL & BBBY

    Dingalink duration 3:33

    iPhone v. Treo, Blackberry, Blackjack, etc. And BBBY?