Genral Web Comments
Friday, March 31, 2006
Locus Online: Letter from Robert Jordan
Locus Online: Letter from Robert Jordan: "Dear Locus,
I have been diagnosed with amyloidosis. That is a rare blood disease which affects only 8 people out of a million each year, and those 8 per million are divided among 22 distinct forms of amyloidosis. They are distinct enough that while some have no treatment at all, for the others, the treatment that works on one will have no effect whatsoever on any of the rest. An amyloid is a misshapen or misfolded protein that can be produced by various parts of the body and which may deposit in other parts of the body (nerves or organs) with varying effects. (As a small oddity, amyloids are associated with a wide list of diseases ranging from carpal tunnel syndrome to Alzheimer's. There's no current evidence of cause and effect, and none of these is considered any form of amyloidosis, but the amyloids are always there. So it is entirely possible that research on amyloids may one day lead to cures for Alzheimer's and the Lord knows what else. I've offered to be a literary poster boy for the Mayo Amyloidosis Program, and the May PR Department, at least, seems very interested. Plus, I've discovered a number of fans in various positions at the clinic, so maybe they'll help out.)
Now in my case, what I have is primary amyloidosis with cardiomyapathy. That means that some (only about 5% at present) of my bone marrow is producing amyloids which are depositing in the wall of my heart, causing it to thicken and stiffen. Untreated, it would eventually make my heart unable to function any longer and I would have a median life expectancy of one year from diagnosis. Fortunately, I am set up for treatment, which expands my median life expectancy to four years. This does NOT mean I have four years to live. For those who've forgotten their freshman or pre-freshman (high school or junior high) mat"
Ham radio and Morse code from Nu-Ware
Ham radio and Morse code from Nu-Ware: "Phonetics
This is a way to make yourself understood better when voicing your callsign and other alphabetic information. Under poor signal conditions it is easy to confuse 'F' with 'S' and 'P' with 'B' and so on. A system was devised called 'International phonetics' to overcome this problem. Here is the complete list:"
COM NET Registry - TLD Zone Access Program from VeriSign, Inc.
COM NET Registry - TLD Zone Access Program from VeriSign, Inc.: "COM NET Registry
Learn More
Global Registrar Days 2006
Existing Customers
Marketing Tools for Registrars
Domain Name Customer Support
TLD Zone Access Program
Participants of the TLD Zone File Access Program may ftp the TLD Zone Files for the .com and .net top-level domains. Each file contains the active domain names in that particular top-level, and each is updated twice daily. To become a participant of the program, please submit an application.
TLD Zone File Access ApplicationTo be considered for acceptance into VeriSign's TLD Zone File Access Program, you must complete and submit the TLD Zone File Access Agreement and Fax Authorization form. For questions, please refer to our FAQs.
Please type your information directly into the following forms, and then print and fax the forms to 703-421-5828.
TLD Zone File Access Agreement
Fax Authorization Form "
ThinkGeek :: Grow Your Own 1up Mushroom Kit
ThinkGeek :: Grow Your Own 1up Mushroom Kit: "Deep in the basement of an ancient house in Sonobe (tucked in the fields of Kyoto, Japan), an amazing discovery has been made: real 1up Mushrooms. We know this sounds unbelievable, and we laughed when we were contacted by an exporter about them two months ago. But then we were sent a sample, and that's when our lives changed forever. "
Thursday, March 30, 2006
LXer: A Brief History of Microsoft FUD
LXer: A Brief History of Microsoft FUD: "This time it's patents that will ensure the downfall of GNU/Linux and with it, the entire world of open source. But before hanging up your certified geek propeller-hat and retraining as a dental hygienist, you might want to consider the following brief history of Microsoft's use of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) as a weapon against GNU/Linux. "
1990 Census Name Files
1990 Census Name Files: "Name Files
NOTE: No specific individual information is given.
Name Last modified Size
dist.all.last 09-May-95 23:19 2M
dist.female.first 29-Sep-94 12:23 146K
dist.male.first 29-Sep-94 12:23 41K
Each of the three files, (dist.all.last), (dist. male.first), and (dist female.first) contain four items of data. The four items are:
A 'Name'
Frequency in percent
Cumulative Frequency in percent
Rank
In the file (dist.all.last) one entry appears as:
MOORE 0.312 5.312 9In our Search Area sample, MOORE ranks 9th in terms of frequency. 5.312 percent of the sample population is covered by MOORE and the 8 names occurring more frequently than MOORE. The surname, MOORE, is possessed by 0.312 percent of our population sample.
Detailed Methodology
---------------------------------------
Variables in Names Files:
name
freq = Frequency in percent
cum.freq = Cumulative Frequency in percent
rank
---------------------------------------
First ten entries in dist.all.last
---------------------------------------
name freq cum.freq rank
SMITH 1.006 1.006 1
JOHNSON 0.810 1.816 2
WILLIAMS 0.699 2.515 3
JONES 0.621 3.136 4
BROWN 0.621 3.757 5
DAVIS 0.480 4.237 6
MILLER 0.424 4.660 7
WILSON 0.339 5.000 8
MOORE 0.312 5.312 9
TAYLOR 0.311 5.623 10
---------------------------------------
First ten entries in dist.female.first
---------------------------------------
name freq cum.freq rank
MARY "
Dennis Forbes - Pragmatic Software Development
Dennis Forbes - Pragmatic Software Development: "You've thought up a brilliant idea for a new Web 2.0, AJAX-enabled web app, or you're about to release a thus-far-unnamed killer software app. Now you just need to find the perfect domain name for it to live at (and, in true new-economy fashion, you'll base your corporate name upon whatever available domain name you find... PILLAGEANDPLUNDR Corporation)."
How to get your songs off your Windows iPod - CNET.com
How to get your songs off your Windows iPod - CNET.com: "Hard drives can melt down. Computers can be stolen. Music folders can be deleted by mistake. Whenever the only copy of your music exists on your iPod, you need a way to get that music off of the unit and onto another computer. Unfortunately, Apple does not offer tools nor does it document procedures to do so. As far as the company is concerned, the only direction music gets transferred is from the computer to the iPod--unless, of course, the music is stored as data. Fortunately, there is software available for both Mac (try Senuti or iPodRip) and Windows (check out PodPlus) that will help you get music off your 'Pod and even help rebuild playlists. But there's another, easier way to go. It won't cost you a dime and requires no software."
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
GalCrash - Main Page
GalCrash - Main Page: "This is an interactive java applet which allows you to model galaxy collisions on your own computer. With this applet you can study how galaxies collide and merge gravitationally and how the effects of the collision depend on the properties of the galaxies. You can also recreate collisions between real interacting galaxies observed in the sky."
Monday, March 27, 2006
Flavor 8 � How To: Back up your DVDs in Ubuntu
Flavor 8 � How To: Back up your DVDs in Ubuntu: "How To: Back up your DVDs in Ubuntu
I wrote a bash script to help you duplicate your DVDs. This may be illegal depending on where you live, but if you use your DVDs regularly you should have backups, to protect your investment. This script will backup the DVD to your hard disk, decrypt it, and create a directory structure that you can burn back to DVD-R. The following assumes that you are using Ubuntu, but I’ve run the script on both Libranet and Mandrake with only minor modifications (see comments within the script for hints.)"
HandBrake homepage
HandBrake homepage: "What is HandBrake?
HandBrake is a GPL'd multiplatform, multithreaded DVD to MPEG-4 ripper/converter. HandBrake was originally available on the BeOS, but now has been ported over to MacOS X and to GNU/Linux. A Windows port is being worked on.
* Supported sources:
o Any DVD-like source: VIDEO_TS folder, DVD image or real DVD (even encrypted)
o PAL or NTSC
o AC-3, LPCM or MPEG audio tracks
* Outputs:
o File format: MP4, AVI or OGM
o Video: MPEG-4 or H.264 (1 or 2 passes or constant quantizer encoding)
o Audio: AAC, MP3, Vorbis or AC-3 pass-through (supports encoding of several audio tracks)
* Misc features
o Chapter selection
o Basic subtitle support (burned into the picture)
o Integrated bitrate calculator
o Picture deinterlacing, cropping and scaling
o Grayscale encoding"
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Idiot World - 5 algorithms you must know
Idiot World - 5 algorithms you must know: "5 algorithms you must know
Submitted by Larry on Fri March 24th, 2006 at 07:27:23 PM EST
Especially if you're a coder, but does come up in real life too. Algorithms are underrated and probably underused - it comes up maybe 1% of the time, but in that 1% of the time, it's 100% important. These are real algorithms, with real-world application, but the lesson is in the paradigm.."
Saturday, March 25, 2006
computer-books.us - Free computer books
computer-books.us - Free computer books: "
Computer-Books.us
Highest quality computer books all of which are available for free download.
Please remember that all titles are copyright � the author or the publisher. The author / publisher has generously allowed them to be available for free online. Please respect the terms and conditions of the copyright.
We are constantly adding new titles so check back often. Aim is to eventually have 1,000's of titles."
we make money not art: Spray on dress
we make money not art: Spray on dress: "Manel Torres has developed Fabrican, a cotton-fabric that comes in a can. Once sprayed onto your body, the pressurised liquid turns instantly into a fabric. Each squirt from the can sends thousands of cotton fibers splattering against your skin. The fibers then bend together to form a disposable garment that peels away when you undress. Since the fibres are delivered in a diffused form, other elements can easily be added, like perfumes, pigments or treatments."
You Built What?!—A Tiny Helicopter - Popular Science
You Built What?!—A Tiny Helicopter - Popular Science: "Helicopters are tricky beasts to keep aloft and stable. Full-size birds do it with skilled pilots, while most unmanned craft rely on gyroscopes and autopilot. But the 3.3-gram Picoflyer is too small for any such luxuries. Instead, Petter Muren, a Norwegian engineer who builds mini copters to fly indoors during long Scandinavian winters, reinvented the stability system."
: "How to Have a 36 Hour Day
How many times do you hear someone say “I wish there were more hours in the day” or something along those lines? The fact is that all of us are only given 24 hours. Having said that, how we spend those 24 hours varies radically from person to person. It's become a bit of a cliche by now but the 24 hours we have is the same 24 hours that Thomas Edison and Mother Theresa had and that Oprah Winfrey and Bill Gates currently have. As the old song goes “It's in the way that you use it.”"
DVD Shrink
DVD Shrink: "DVD Shrink is software to backup DVD discs. You can use this software in conjunction with DVD burning software of your choice, to make a backup copy of any DVD video disc.
DVD Shrink will also burn your backup DVD, if you have installed the latest version of Nero. You can download a demo version of Nero here. If you already possess alternative burning software and prefer to stick with it, then you can still use DVD Shrink. The output from DVD Shrink can be saved as files on your hard drive, which you can then burn with software of your choice.
DVD Shrink is free software. You should never pay for DVD Shrink.
Specifications:
DVD Shrink - DVD Ripping and Backup
Latest Version - 3.2.0.15
Operating System Support - Windows 9x/2000/XP
License - Freeware"
Friday, March 24, 2006
CNN.com - Jesse Sullivan powers robotic arms with his mind - Mar 22, 2006
CNN.com - Jesse Sullivan powers robotic arms with his mind - Mar 22, 2006: "CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- It's Sunday night, and my wife and I are watching 'The Sopranos.' This is appointment television. No calls, please."
R-FORCE.ORG - Starforce Admin; Not happy with posting warez, now they resort to libel.
R-FORCE.ORG - Starforce Admin; Not happy with posting warez, now they resort to libel.: "Starforce Admin are up to their usual antics yet again. We are not even 2 weeks down from when they posted warez links to Stardocks Galactic Civilizations II.
Now they have resorted to, posting libelous comments claiming my research into partitioned primary SATA/SCSI drives and how Starforce spreads accross all partitions as well as any networks drive with read/write capability."
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Tapioca - TapiWiki
Tapioca - TapiWiki: "Tapioca is a framework for Voice over IP (VoIP) and Instant Messaging (IM). Its main goal is to provide an easy way for developing and using VoIP and IM services in any kind of application. It was designed to be cross-platform, lightweight, thread-safe, having mobile devices and applications in mind.
Tapioca's main goals are:
* Create a solution that integrates all components used by VoIP and IM applications in a single, reliable and easy to use framework, which is able to work on different platforms.
* Spare resources, providing central services for multiple applications. Eg.: The control of all incoming and outgoing SIP requests are managed by the SIP service, avoiding the creation of one SIP stack and allocation of a network port for each SIP-based application.
* Reduce the overhead of control layers and library dependencies."
Re-surfacing CDs so they work again.
Re-surfacing CDs so they work again.: "Intro Re-surfacing CDs so they work again.
A simple way to remove scratches from a cd so you can get your data back off the disc again."
Atheists identified as America’s most distrusted minority, according to new U of M study : News Releases: UMNnews: U of M.
Atheists identified as America’s most distrusted minority, according to new U of M study : News Releases: UMNnews: U of M.: "Atheists identified as America’s most distrusted minority, according to new U of M study
What: U of M study reveals America’s distrust of atheism
Who: Penny Edgell, associate professor of sociology
Contact: Nina Shepherd, sociology media relations, (612) 599-1148
Mark Cassutt University News Service, (612) 624-8038
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (3/20/2006) -- American’s increasing acceptance of religious diversity doesn’t extend to those who don’t believe in a god, according to a national survey by researchers in the University of Minnesota’s department of sociology.
From a telephone sampling of more than 2,000 households, university researchers found that Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in “sharing their vision of American society.” Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry."
Index of /opensuse/distribution/SL-10.0-OSS/inst-source
Index of /opensuse/distribution/SL-10.0-OSS/inst-source: "Index of /opensuse/distribution/SL-10.0-OSS/inst-source"
Released Version - openSUSE
Released Version - openSUSE: "Downloads
Downloads 10.0 OSS
x86 CD1 CD2 CD3 CD4 CD5 BitTorrent Internet Installation Boot Image
x86-64 CD1 CD2 CD3 CD4 CD5 BitTorrent Internet Installation Boot Image
ppc CD1 CD2 CD3 CD4 CD5 BitTorrent Internet Installation Boot Image
Checksums MD5SUMS MD5SUMS
Internet Installation Repository Installation Repository
Sources Sources
Mirrors Mirrors Released Version
Please be aware that it is possible to create a single DVD by using the five CD isos. For further information have a look at the artikel Making a DVD from CDs."
Monday, March 20, 2006
tvRSS - Syndication for your television
tvRSS - Syndication for your television: "When I first started tvRSS, I wanted to have the ability to search for TV shows, unlike any other site out there. The search mechansim that was in place is somewhat limited. Mininova and most torrent-related sites that use a simple 'name' field are also limited in that respect. This is about to change.
For the last month or so, with the help of a friend, I've been developing a new method of searching for TV shows. It is finally public. It is now possible to search for more than just a simple 'name.'
The database structure has drastically changed. When torrents are added, the filename of the torrent (which is all that's available to parse) is processed into various 'fields.' These fields are: show name, filename, show title, season number, episode number, quality, release group, video format, audio format, date and 'modifier.'
Additionally, the RSS feeds have been revamped to support the new scheme. Every torrent is formatted properly, and is easier to read. Because of this, I've updated the old 'legacy' feeds.
So, without further ado, here are the new feeds (the old feeds will always work, and should still work with old filter sets):"
SUPER Video Converter (Convert Any Video File To Any Other Format You Want)
SUPER Video Converter (Convert Any Video File To Any Other Format You Want): "SUPER, Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer 'If you need a simple, yet very efficient tool to convert (encode) or play any Multimedia file, without reading manuals or spending long hours training, then SUPER � is all you need.'"
SUPER Video Converter (Convert Any Video File To Any Other Format You Want)
SUPER Video Converter (Convert Any Video File To Any Other Format You Want): "the encoding can easily be done with another free, and _open source at that_, program, MediaCoder. Now, I'm not purporting that it is perfect, but neither is that software. Both products have their strengths.
available at http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/
just offering you options ;)"
news @ nature.com�-�DNA origami yields micro map�-�Molecular artwork could point way for nanotech applications.
news @ nature.com�-�DNA origami yields micro map�-�Molecular artwork could point way for nanotech applications.: "Technology really is shrinking the globe. In a map of the Americas unveiled in this week's Nature1, the journey from Los Angeles to New York becomes a hop of just tens of nanometres. That's a scale of 1:200,000,000,000,000.
The entire western hemisphere is smaller than a bacterium, and 50 billion copies of the chart could fit inside a drop of water. This might seem tiny, but the map, which is made of DNA, is the biggest and most elaborate nanoscale object created in the lab so far.
"
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Splendid Pictures Around The Net: Transparent Butterfly
Splendid Pictures Around The Net: Transparent Butterfly: "Transparent Butterfly
Transparent winged butterflies similar species:
Greta oto , Oleria paula , Ithomia patilla , Pteronymia cotytto
It comes from central America and is found from Mexico to Panama. It is quite common in its zone, but it not easy to find because of its transparent wings, which is a natural camouflage mechanism.
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Ithomiinae
Common name: The Glasswing"
PASSUR Cost Saving FlightReport
PASSUR Cost Saving FlightReport: "The following is a list of airports which offer AirportMonitor to the public on their websites (some airports use AirportMonitor for internal use only, and those sites are not listed here). You can view an AirportMonitor site by accessing the airport website, to see how AirportMonitor is integrated into the airport website environment, or by going directly to the AirportMonitor page. Links for both approaches are provided below."
Friday, March 17, 2006
Fold - Your Web 2.0 Start Page
Fold - Your Web 2.0 Start Page: "What is Fold?
Fold is a portal or start page. The aim of Fold is to consolidate most of the tools and information you need every day into a single web page. No matter where you are in the world, each time you log in you'll feel right at home."
AlphaGrip AG-5 handheld keyboard and mouse : Page 1
AlphaGrip AG-5 handheld keyboard and mouse : Page 1: "After lots of research and five revisions, the perfectionists at AlphaGrip finally decided that they had a product worthy of marketing, and they released the long awaited AG-5. Although the AG-5 looks strange and intimidating, it is a unique and highly innovative product that deserves consideration, particularly by mobile computing enthusiasts. The AG-5 interfaces with computers via a single removable USB cable. It uses a simple chord-like keyboarding model and an integrated trackball to provide complete keyboard and mouse functionality in a unique form factor that looks a bit like a console gaming controller.
Like most other devices in its class, the AG-5 confronts new users with a steep learning curve. For the average computer user, the time required to learn a whole new keyboard layout is seldom worth the reward, but like most other power users, I am generally willing to go to extreme lengths to improve my computing efficiency."
Thursday, March 16, 2006
greased lightbox / shifting pixel / joe lencioni
greased lightbox / shifting pixel / joe lencioni: "Greased Lightbox is a Greasemonkey/Creammonkey user script designed to enhance browsing on websites that link to images such as Google Image Search, Flickr, Gmail, Facebook, and MySpace."
Configuring Apache for Maximum Performance | HowtoForge - Linux Howtos and Tutorials
Configuring Apache for Maximum Performance | HowtoForge - Linux Howtos and Tutorials: "Configuring Apache for Maximum Performance
Submitted by bobcares on Wed, 2006-02-22 11:42. :: Apache
Apache is an open-source HTTP server implementation. It is the most popular web server on the Internet. The December 2005 Web Server Survey conducted by Netcraft [1] shows that about 70% of the web sites on Internet are using Apache."
Roomba takes Frogger to the asphalt jungle | CNET News.com
Roomba takes Frogger to the asphalt jungle | CNET News.com: "reporter's notebook AUSTIN, Texas--It's almost two in the morning and I'm standing in the middle of Austin's Sixth Street, hoping that I'm not going to get hit by a car.
On the other hand, I am hoping--as are 15 or so other people standing nearby--that one of the cars that keep rushing by will crush the tricked-out Roomba robot vacuum cleaner that Make Magazine associate editor Phillip Torrone and Eyebeam R&D fellow Limor Fried are sending back and forth across the street and through traffic.
This is Roomba Frogger, a modern, geek version of the famous 1981 video game 'Frogger,' in which players had to get a frog across a street without it getting crushed by a car or truck."
Mysql automatic backup script - AutoMySQLBackup
Mysql automatic backup script - AutoMySQLBackup: "About AutoMySQLBackup
A script to take daily, weekly and monthly backups of your MySQL databases using mysqldump. Features - Backup mutiple databases - Single backup file or to a seperate file for each DB - Compress backup files - Backup remote servers - E-mail logs – More
AutoMySQLBackup Script Features
• Backup mutiple MySQL databases with one script. (Now able to backup ALL databases on a server easily. no longer need to specify each database seperately)
• Backup all databases to a single backup file or to a seperate directory and file for each database.
• Automatically compress the backup files to save disk space using either gzip or bzip2 compression.
• Can backup remote MySQL servers to a central server.
• Runs automatically using cron or can be run manually.
• Can e-mail the backup log to any specified e-mail address instead of 'root'. (Great for hosted websites and databases).
• Can email the compressed database backup files to the specified email address.
• Can specify maximun size backup to email.
• Can be set to run PRE and POST backup commands.
• Choose which day of the week to run weekly backups."
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
10 Best Security Live CD Distros (Pen-Test, Forensics & Recovery) �
10 Best Security Live CD Distros (Pen-Test, Forensics & Recovery) �: "10 Best Security Live CD Distros (Pen-Test, Forensics & Recovery) "
Mysql automatic backup script - AutoMySQLBackup
Mysql automatic backup script - AutoMySQLBackup: "A script to take daily, weekly and monthly backups of your MySQL databases using mysqldump. Features - Backup mutiple databases - Single backup file or to a seperate file for each DB - Compress backup files - Backup remote servers - E-mail logs � More"
Technical Difficulties - Hacks - Evolutionary Programming Toolkit (Zach)
Technical Difficulties - Hacks - Evolutionary Programming Toolkit (Zach): "evolutionary programming toolkit"
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Volkswagen and Google develop revolutionary navigation system - Automotoportal.com
Volkswagen and Google develop revolutionary navigation system - Automotoportal.com: "Together with the graphics card manufacturer nVidia, a revolutionary new navigation system is being developed in Volkswagen's Electronics Research Laboratory (ERL) in Palo Alto, California. This new system uses data from Google Earth to generate 3-dimensional images of the route. Moreover, the navigation system can gather online data to provide the driver with important real-time information, for example about the traffic situation or weather"
Six-Stroke Engine Concept - Gear6
Six-Stroke Engine Concept - Gear6: "Bruce Crower has made a name for himself with his aftermarket performance parts business Crower Cams, but at 75 years old Crower may have done the most remarkable thing in his life. Crower has developed a six-stroke engine that may just forever change the automotive world.
Using a modified single-cylinder diesel engine Crower converted it to use gasoline, then machined the necessacary parts to create the worlds only six-stroke engine. The engine works thru harnessing wasted heat energy created by the fuel combustion to add another two-strokes to the engine cycle. After the combustion stage water is injected into the super heated cyclinder and steam forms forcing the piston back down and in turn cools the engine. The result is normal levels of power using much less fuel and no need for an external cooling system."
Six-Stroke Engine Concept - Gear6
Six-Stroke Engine Concept - Gear6: "Bruce Crower has made a name for himself with his aftermarket performance parts business Crower Cams, but at 75 years old Crower may have done the most remarkable thing in his life. Crower has developed a six-stroke engine that may just forever change the automotive world.
Using a modified single-cylinder diesel engine Crower converted it to use gasoline, then machined the necessacary parts to create the worlds only six-stroke engine. The engine works thru harnessing wasted heat energy created by the fuel combustion to add another two-strokes to the engine cycle. After the combustion stage water is injected into the super heated cyclinder and steam forms forcing the piston back down and in turn cools the engine. The result is normal levels of power using much less fuel and no need for an external cooling system."
Monday, March 13, 2006
Reporters Exempt From Eavesdropping Bill
Reporters Exempt From Eavesdropping Bill: "WASHINGTON -- Reporters who write about government surveillance could be prosecuted under proposed legislation that would solidify the administration's eavesdropping authority, according to some legal analysts who are concerned about dramatic changes in U.S. law.
But an aide to the bill's chief author, Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, said that is not the intention of the legislation."
140 Resources on Online Tools, Generators, Checkers �-�Listible!
140 Resources on Online Tools, Generators, Checkers �-�Listible!: "Online Tools, Generators, Checkers
15 created by leech on February 27, 2006 12:12 AM
List of online free tools that help us to program, design, develope, optimize, etc."
: "Red Rain Proof of Extraterrestrial Life?
I am pretty convinced now that life exists outside the Earth. At the very least, there is an exotic type of life on earth of which we have been totally unware until now. The pictures of the 'red rain' particles have convinced me. Scroll down to ogle them.
The best article so far on the the 'red rain' phenomenon is in New Scientist. The Observer had a decent article too. An Indian scientist, Dr. Godfrey Louis, thinks the red particles found in the rain are the remnants of a meteorite that exploded. He further thinks that they might be extraterrestrial life forms.
The New Scientist article linked to his full-length paper that is to appear in the peer-reviewed journal Astrophysics and Space Science. Intrigued, I took a look at his paper. It is surprisingly readable considering it's meant for a journal.
The paper has lots of very interesting photos (New Scientist published one -- the only pic in the paper that was in color). I have cut-n-pasted the photos from the paper below. They are pretty amazing and deserve wide exposure.
I think the story is being under-reported. Massive investigations into this 'red rain' will probably settle the question about whether extraterrestrial life exists, but I don't see much urgency on this."
Peeking Into Google
Peeking Into Google: "Peeking Into Google
By Susan Kuchinskas
BURLINGAME, Calif. -- The key to the speed and reliability of Google (Quote, Chart) search is cutting up data into chunks, its top engineer said.
Urs Hoelzle, Google vice president of operations and vice president of engineering, offered a rare behind-the-scenes tour of Google's architecture on Wednesday. Hoelzle spoke here at EclipseCon 2005, a conference on the open source, extensible platform for software tools.
To deal with the more than 10 billion Web pages and tens of terabytes of information on Google's servers, the company combines cheap machines with plenty of redundancy, Hoelzle said. Its commodity servers cost around $1,000 apiece, and Google's architecture places them into interconnected nodes. "
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Gabbly - gabbly.com
Gabbly - gabbly.com: "Here at Gabbly, we are building a platform that enables people to instantly connect and collaborate around any content, topic or interest.
The team is made up of Teck, Flora, Abe, Jon and Saket.
We love to hear from you.
Please contact us at: team@gabbly.com "
KeepVid: Download videos from Google, Youtube, iFilm, Putfile, Metacafe, DailyMotion.
KeepVid: Download videos from Google, Youtube, iFilm, Putfile, Metacafe, DailyMotion.: "Welcome
Download direct from most video sites
You can download from:
Angry Alien, ArtistDirect, Blastro, Blennus, Blip.tv, Bofunk, Bolt, Break.com, Castpost, Dailymotion, DevilDucky, FindVideos, Free Video Blog, Google Video, Grinvi, Grouper, iFilm, LuluTV, Metacafe, Midis.biz, Music.com, MusicVideoCodes.info, MySpace Video Code, PcPlanets, Pixparty, Putfile, REVVER, Sharkle, StreetFire, That Video Site, The One Network, VideoCodes4U, VideoCodesWorld, VideoCodeZone, vidiLife, VIDNET.com, Vimeo, Web62.com, YouTube and ZippyVideos.
To download from other sites, choose the 'OTHER' tab from the top.
How to use
1. Choose the site from which you want to download.
2. Copy the link of the page with the video on it and paste it in the textbox above.
Help spread the word
Let other people know about this site on: Del.icio.us, Digg, Furl and Shadows "
Torrentspy.com - The Largest BitTorrent Search Engine
Torrentspy.com - The Largest BitTorrent Search Engine: "alien vs predator 2"
Saturday, March 11, 2006
DAG: Tunneling SSH over HTTP(S)
DAG: Tunneling SSH over HTTP(S): "Tunneling SSH over HTTP(S)
This document explains how to set up an Apache server and SSH client to allow tunneling SSH over HTTP(S). This can be useful on restricted networks that either firewall everything except HTTP traffic (tcp/80) or require users to use a local (HTTP) proxy.
Preqrequisites
You need:
An internet connected Apache server (eg. with IP address 10.1.2.3)
A FQDN that points to this IP address (eg. ssh.yourdomain.com)
A virtual host configuration in Apache for this domain (eg. /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssh.yourdomain.com.conf)
A configuration to adapt ssh to use the HTTP tunnel "
Cognitive Labs Blog: Mental Typewriter and Game Controller Becomes a Reality
Cognitive Labs Blog: Mental Typewriter and Game Controller Becomes a Reality: "A computer controlled by the power of thought alone has been demonstrated at CEBIT in Germany. As we have speculated here, rapid advances in cybernetics are now ocurring, which will eventually change how consumers interface with computers, while the substructure of how people inter-relate online has continued to evolve quickly. Imagine reaction time that is constrained only by the power and speed of thought without any mechanical components. It would seem we are headed towards an always-connected global brain. With complete integration of components, what is the difference between telepathy and let's say, a WiFi/Bluetooth connection between your computer and your brain, with the computer/device acting as a filter and transceiver? "
USB sniffer for Windows 98, 98SE, 2000 and Windows XP
USB sniffer for Windows 98, 98SE, 2000 and Windows XP: "USB sniffer for Windows 98, 98SE, 2000 and Windows XP
This source code has been inspired from a USB sniffer for Windows 98. This sniffer is based on the WDM architecture (Windows Driver Model), which support the insertion of filter between device drivers. And the filter itself is a driver.
Short user manual:
Installation : Copy usbsnoop.sys to your system directory (C:\WINNT\system32\drivers)
Configuration : Run sniffusb.exe and select the device you want to sniff.
Usage : unplug and plug your USB device or reboot the machine.
Result : see the generated file under C:\WINNT\usbsnoop.log
The resulting log is pretty big, so you're likely to need a perl script to parse it and extract useful information. Have the USB Specs 1.1 at hand too. "
USBMon stuff
USBMon stuff: "USBMon
August 23rd 2002
Contents:
README This file (almost)
presentations/* contains the presentations that were given during the
project to my supervision group.
dissertation/* files relating to the final dissertation on which the
project was judged.
screenshots/* Contains some screenshots of USBMon in operation.
USBMon-0.2a.tar.gz This is a tarball of the last version of the code I
produced it contains patches against kernel versions
2.4.1 and 2.4.4.
Dave Harding ( dave@dharding.fsworld.co.uk) "
Download Software USB Port Monitor, Universal Serial Bus Sniffer and Analyzer
Download Software USB Port Monitor, Universal Serial Bus Sniffer and Analyzer: "HHD Software USB Monitor is an invaluable tool for all developers and engineers, who design, create and connect to PC a whole range of equipment with universal serial bus on board. This tool captures all the USB Request Blocks (URBs) transferred from the device driver to the host controller and back.
The USB Monitor installs the filter driver between the host controller and the device driver, which allows it to monitor all the data transferred and display it to the user in the easily readable format. You can log the monitored data for later review, copy it to the clipboard or export it to the file in various formats.
The USB Monitor's Request View visualizer decodes each URB and displays its contents using several different schemes from basic to detailed. The basic scheme provides popup balloons, which give you more detailed contents of portions of data, the complete scheme shows all URB data decoded.
The USB Device Window shows the whole system USB Device Tree, including all installed host controllers, hubs, ports and devices, connected to them. For each connected device, the USB Device Window displays the contents of the USB device descriptors, including device and configuration descriptor, interface descriptors, endpoint descriptors and string descriptors.
The USB Monitor fully supports the Plug&Play feature of Windows 2000 and Windows XP. It allows you to plug the device in or out while you are using the USB Monitor and shows you all the actions carried out by the operating system and the device driver to satisfy the plug&play operations."
Friday, March 10, 2006
Debian -- xen-tools
Debian -- xen-tools: "Package: xen-tools (1.1-1)
Tools to manage debian XEN virtual servers
This package contains tools to manage debian based XEN virtual servers. With them you can create, duplicate, update or delete virtual servers.
Homepage: http://www.steve.org.uk/Software/xen-tools"
unixshell# :: Linux Virtual Server, Virtual Private Server, Virtual Dedicated Server, Virtual Server, Dedicated Server, VPS, VDS
unixshell# :: Linux Virtual Server, Virtual Private Server, Virtual Dedicated Server, Virtual Server, Dedicated Server, VPS, VDS: "Why do I want a virtual machine?
A virtual machine (aka. VM, VPS, VDS) provides all the benefits of having your very own server with none of the drawbacks. We take a large server and segment it into many virtual servers."
unixshell# :: Linux Virtual Server, Virtual Private Server, Virtual Dedicated Server, Virtual Server, Dedicated Server, VPS, VDS
unixshell# :: Linux Virtual Server, Virtual Private Server, Virtual Dedicated Server, Virtual Server, Dedicated Server, VPS, VDS: "Why do I want a virtual machine?
A virtual machine (aka. VM, VPS, VDS) provides all the benefits of having your very own server with none of the drawbacks. We take a large server and segment it into many virtual servers."
Private Root
Private Root: "Private Root Xen VPS Systems Give You The
Power And Control Of A Dedicated Root Server
At A Fraction Of The Cost"
Thursday, March 09, 2006
QEMUGentoo - Xen Wiki
QEMUGentoo - Xen Wiki: "9. emerge grub
emerge grub
nano -w /boot/grub/grub.conf
And add the following:
default 0
timeout 0
root (hd1,0)
title=Xen
kernel (hd1,0)/install/boot/xen.gz com1=115200,8n1 console=com1
module (hd1,0)/install/boot/vmlinuz-2.6-xen0 root=/dev/hda1 console=ttyS0
10. Under '# SERIAL CONSOLES' in /etc/inittab find the line:
#s0:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 9600 ttyS0 vt100
And change it to:
s0:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 115200 ttyS0 linux"
Monday, March 06, 2006
Crime: 'Netbangers,' Beware - Newsweek National News - MSNBC.com
Crime: 'Netbangers,' Beware - Newsweek National News - MSNBC.com: "Cops in Boston and Texas who broke up gang brawls in the past few years found that the altercations had been scheduled on gang Web sites."
Schneier on Security: Wireless Dead Drop
Schneier on Security: Wireless Dead Drop: "I am reminded of a dead drop technique used by, I think, the 9/11 terrorists. They used Hotmail (or some other anonymous e-mail service) accounts, but instead of e-mailing messages to each other, one would save a message as 'draft' and the recipient would retrieve it from the same account later. I thought that was pretty clever, actually."
Schneier on Security: Liberty Increases Security
Schneier on Security: Liberty Increases Security: "Another method [of reducing terrorism], says Princeton University economist Alan B. Krueger, is to increase the civil liberties of the countries that breed terrorist groups. In an analysis of State Department data on terrorism, Krueger discovered that 'countries like Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, which have spawned relatively many terrorists, are economically well off yet lacking in civil liberties. Poor countries with a tradition of protecting civil liberties are unlikely to spawn suicide terrorists. Evidently, the freedom to assemble and protest peacefully without interference from the government goes a long way to providing an alternative to terrorism.' Let freedom ring."
Schneier on Security: Ben Franklin on the Feeling of Security
Schneier on Security: Ben Franklin on the Feeling of Security: "Those who calculate chances may perhaps find that not one death (or the destruction of one house) in a hundred thousand happens from that cause, and that therefore it is scarce worth while to be at any expense to guard against it. But in all countries there are particular situations of buildings more exposed than others to such accidents, and there are minds so strongly impressed with the apprehension of them, as to be very unhappy every time a little thunder is within their hearing; it may therefore be well to render this little piece of new knowledge as general and well understood as possible, since to make us safe is not all its advantage, it is some to make us easy. And as the stroke it secures us from might have chanced perhaps but once in our lives, while it may relieve us a hundred times from those painful apprehensions, the latter may possibly on the whole contribute more to the happiness of mankind than the former."
Zero to IPSec in 4 minutes
Zero to IPSec in 4 minutes: "Until recently, setting up an open-source IPSec solution has been woefully complex and involved wading through an alphabet soup of committee-designed protocols. Many people give up on IPSec after their first peek at the horrible and complex software documentation, opting instead to install some sort of commercial SSL VPN which seems much simpler. For those who have been through this exercise, a jumble of SAs, ESPs, AHs, SPIs, CAs, certs, FIFOs, IKEs and policy jargon inside RFCs is enough to give anyone a headache. However, there is good new on the IPSec front: it has all finally been covered up with a nice, simple way to set it up under OpenBSD.
In this short article we'll look at how to get a fully functional IPSec VPN up and running between two fresh OpenBSD machines in about four minutes flat. The goal here certainly isn't to give an exhaustive overview of all the option available in IPSec or OpenBSD, but rather just how quickly and easily we can be up and running when others take days or weeks to do the same thing. "
Google Analytics
Google Analytics: "Introducing Google Analytics.
Sophisticated. Easy. Free.
Learn more >>
Get Your Invitation �
Google Analytics tells you everything you want to know about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site. You'll be able to focus your marketing resources on campaigns and initiatives that deliver ROI, and improve your site to convert more visitors."
The Google Compute Project
The Google Compute Project: "Your computer's idle time is too precious to waste.
Put your computer to work advancing scientific knowledge when it's not helping you.
Google Compute is a feature of the Google Toolbar that enables your computer to help solve challenging scientific problems when it would otherwise be idle. When you enable Google Compute, your computer will download a small piece of a large research project and perform calculations on it that will then be included with the calculations performed by thousands of other computers doing the same thing. This process is known as distributed computing. "
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Content Based Visual Image Search : Tiltomo
Content Based Visual Image Search : Tiltomo: "Welcome to Tiltomo. Here you can play with our Visual Search code using two sample databases from flickr. Getting started is easy, search for a tag or click random. Look for an image you like, click one of the Find Similar links under the image. You have two Find Similar modes to choose from:"
Wired 14.03: START
Wired 14.03: START: "1. Viagra
Men being treated for erectile dysfunction should salute the working stiffs of Merthyr Tydfil, the Welsh hamlet where, in 1992 trials, the gravity-defying side effects of a new angina drug first popped up. Previously, the blue-collar town was known for producing a different kind of iron.
2. LSD
Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann took the world's first acid hit in 1943, when he touched a smidge of lysergic acid diethylamide, a chemical he had researched for inducing childbirth. He later tried a bigger dose and made another discovery: the bad trip.
3. X-rays
Several 19th-century scientists toyed with the penetrating rays emitted when electrons strike a metal target. But the x-ray wasn't discovered until 1895, when German egghead Wilhelm R�ntgen tried sticking various objects in front of the radiation - and saw the bones of his hand projected on a wall.
4. Penicillin
Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming was researching the flu in 1928 when he noticed that a blue-green mold had infected one of his petri dishes - and killed the staphylococcus bacteria growing in it. All hail sloppy lab work!
5. Artificial sweeteners
Speaking of botched lab jobs, three leading pseudo-sugars reached human lips only because scientists forgot to wash their hands. Cyclamate (1937) and aspartame (1965) are byproducts of medical research, and saccharin (1879) appeared during a project on coal tar derivatives. Yummy.
6. Microwave ovens
Microwave emitters (or magnetrons) powered Allied radar in WWII. The leap from detecting Nazis to nuking nachos came in 1946, after a magnetron melted a candy bar in Raytheon engineer Percy Spencer's pocket.
7. Brandy
Medieval wine merchants used to boil the H20 out of wine so their delicate cargo would keep better and take up less space at sea. Before lon"
DIY Mods: Feature: Lighten your keychain Archives
DIY Mods: Feature: Lighten your keychain Archives: "Feature: Lighten your keychain
So I came up with this idea after about the 47th grocery store discount card I hard to sign up with. I was tired of my pocket looking like I was storing supplies for winter (you know, like chipmunks with their cheeks). It's a card for your wallet that contains the barcodes for all those discount stores. I have the shoe store, pet store, and about 5 grocery stores on mine. I just whip out the card, tell them which barcode to scan, get a weird look and a question, and then I'm on my way."
Critticall home page
Critticall home page: "This is the home page of Critticall. A programming tool, which enables you to apply the Darwinian force to algorithms! To those fundamental, and to those quite common. Evolution isn't just a theory. It's a nature's technology to make complicated things. And to sharpen those things further, to perform better and better. In the dawn of the computer age (or maybe even earlier), the so called Bubble sort has been invented. An algorithm, which orders a set of numbers or any other objects. Bubble is something like this:
o=0; p=1; n=20; while (p!=o) { p=0; i=0; k=0; while (i
Now, what would Critticall do with this ancient algorithm? Would it invent Quick Sort from Bubble sort? It has already invented - during the program debug stage - a previously unknown sort. It's faster than any other, when there is a small number of unique records. Several Unique Sort is this: "
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Zend Framework
Zend Framework: "Zend Framework is a high quality and open source framework for developing Web Applications and Web Services.Built in the true PHP spirit, the Zend Framework delivers ease-of-use and powerful functionality. It provides solutions for building modern, robust, and secure websites."
GNUnet - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)
GNUnet - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF): "Introduction
GNUnet is a framework for secure peer-to-peer networking. The primary application implemented within the GNUnet framework is anonymous censorship-resistant file-sharing.
The goal of the GNUnet project is to provide an infrastructure for secure peer-to-peer networking. All communication in GNUnet is authenticated and link-to-link encrypted. The economic model makes attacks on the network harder since the economics can be used to control resource usage. GNUnet peers exchange messages using a pluggable transport service abstraction. Currently, transport services based on UDP, TCP, HTTP and SMTP are available. The GNUnet core provides mechanisms to perform resource allocations for CPU, bandwidth and storage space. The core enforces resource limitations set by the user. GNUnet does not rely on any centralized services. New Peer-to-Peer protocols can be easily implemented on top of the basic GNUnet infrastructure. Current protocols include anonymous file sharing, a trivial chat protocol, message throughput benchmarking and network topology visualization.
While our goals are similar to projects like Freenet, Gnutella, Mnet, and others, we hope to provide a superior combination of features for users that value security more than efficiency.
A list of frequently "
OpenAFS
OpenAFS: "Welcome to the home of OpenAFS
What is AFS?
AFS is a distributed filesystem product, pioneered at Carnegie Mellon University and supported and developed as a product by Transarc Corporation (now IBM Pittsburgh Labs). It offers a client-server architecture for file sharing, providing location independence, scalability, security, and transparent migration capabilities for data.
IBM branched the source of the AFS product, and made a copy of the source available for community development and maintenance. They called the release OpenAFS."
OpenAFS
OpenAFS: "Welcome to the home of OpenAFS
What is AFS?
AFS is a distributed filesystem product, pioneered at Carnegie Mellon University and supported and developed as a product by Transarc Corporation (now IBM Pittsburgh Labs). It offers a client-server architecture for file sharing, providing location independence, scalability, security, and transparent migration capabilities for data.
IBM branched the source of the AFS product, and made a copy of the source available for community development and maintenance. They called the release OpenAFS."
MogileFS
MogileFS: "MogileFS is our open source distributed filesystem. Its properties and features include:
Application level -- no special kernel modules required.
No single point of failure -- all three components of a MogileFS setup (storage nodes, trackers, and the tracker's database(s)) can be run on multiple machines, so there's no single point of failure. (you can run trackers on the same machines as storage nodes, too, so you don't need 4 machines...) A minimum of 2 machines is recommended.
Automatic file replication -- files, based on their 'class', are automatically replicated between enough different storage nodes as to satisfy the minimum replica count as requested by their class. For instance, for a photo hosting site you can make original JPEGs have a minimum replica count of 3, but thumbnails and scaled versions only have a replica count of 1 or 2. If you lose the only copy of a thumbnail, the application can just rebuild it. In this way, MogileFS (without RAID) can save money on disks that would otherwise be storing multiple copies of data unnecessarily.
'Better than RAID' -- in a non-SAN RAID setup, the disks are redundant, but the host isn't. If you lose the entire machine, the files are inaccessible. MogileFS replicates the files between devices which are on different hosts, so files are always available.
Transport Neutral -- MogileFS clients can communicate with MogileFS storage nodes (after talking to a tracker) via either NFS or HTTP, but we strongly recommend HTTP.
Flat Namespace -- Files are identified by named keys in a flat, global namespace. You can create as many namespaces as you'd like, so multiple applications with potentially conflicting keys can run on the same MogileFS installation.
Shared-Nothing -- MogileFS doesn't depend on a pricey SAN with shared disks. Every machine maintains its "
Useful MySQL Stuff
Useful MySQL Stuff: "Useful MySQL Stuff
dbmon.pl A simple script to monitor MySQL queries and log them into a file for future processing. Optionally will kill long-running queries.
tablesync.pl A fairly complex script to check two tables, and attempt to generate INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements to bring them into sync. Warning: This script needs some work to make it functional in a general MySQL environment but not a lot. I'll fix it up whenever I next need to use it.
mysqlHammerMe.pl A simple script that inserts a bunch of rows, then randomly deletes many of them. Mostly tests index read speed during the deletes. Should be modified to fork() maybe 30 times.
diskTest.pl Brad Fitzpatrick of LiveJournal described the concept of a script that tests storage devices to make sure that when they claim some data is on disk, it actually is. If your storage device is hooked up to a Linux box, you can use this script to do such testing. We used it at Digg to make sure our disks weren't lying to us.
mysqlDbiSkeleton.pl A Perl MySQL DBI skeleton script. I keep writing these things from scratch. About time I stopped.
LiveJournalScalingPaper.pdf A paper about how LiveJournal scaled up their system. Not just a MySQL paper, but covers a lot of the details you need to know about doing a MySQL-backed high-volume web site.
mysql-internals.pdf Internals of MySQL. I read this once, and I remember it being interesting, but not a lot of it stuck. Probably better for reference. "
SSL-Explorer: The World's First Browser-Based, Open Source SSL VPN
SSL-Explorer: The World's First Browser-Based, Open Source SSL VPN: "SSL-Explorer is the world's first open-source, browser-based SSL VPN solution. This unique remote access solution provides users and businesses alike with a means of securely accessing network resources from outside the network perimeter using only a standard web browser.
SSL-based VPNs have become a hot topic in recent years. The benefits to productivity and the low maintenance overhead that comes with browser-based VPN solutions are something that cannot be overlooked by most businesses, though implementation costs can often be prohibitive.
In contrast to a conventional IPsec-based solution, no client side code needs to be installed on your end user's systems. SSL VPNs rely on Javatm based technology and hence require only a standard web browser to operate. Standard network protocols can be tunnelled through the SSL connection, meaning that email and intranet web/file resources are easily and securely accessible from outside the corporate network. The use of SSL is highly beneficial in these circumstances since most firewall policies grant access to SSL traffic by default, meaning that no additional configuration is required. Our solution is not a firewall, but it effectively allows you to 'lock-down' your network, leaving just a single port open on your firewall."
SourceForge.net: SSL-Explorer
SourceForge.net: SSL-Explorer: "SSL-Explorer is a fully-featured, web-based SSL VPN server. This practicable remote access security solution includes SSL tunneling, intranet website proxying, Microsoft Windows file sharing and Java application deployment through a standard browser "
Ricky�s Web Review � Blog Archive � Free Tools to Recover lost data
Ricky�s Web Review � Blog Archive � Free Tools to Recover lost data: "Free Tools to Recover lost data
A little problem on a server of the community I manage caused a so much little data loss (luckily!), but it also caused bad problems for me and for a collegue of mine, recovering the lost data that was recoverable.
Even if in my personal story I didn�t get help from them, this event made me remember how much softwares for PC data recovery are important. I already appreciated features in Ontrack EasyRecovery and Active Undelete, but they�re commercial softwares (the first one is expansive, less the 2nd); there are also several, very similar, free softwares for executing the same �magical� operations: recovering lost or deleted files:"
Ricky�s Web Review � Blog Archive � Free Tools to Recover lost data
Ricky�s Web Review � Blog Archive � Free Tools to Recover lost data: "Free Tools to Recover lost data
A little problem on a server of the community I manage caused a so much little data loss (luckily!), but it also caused bad problems for me and for a collegue of mine, recovering the lost data that was recoverable.
Even if in my personal story I didn�t get help from them, this event made me remember how much softwares for PC data recovery are important. I already appreciated features in Ontrack EasyRecovery and Active Undelete, but they�re commercial softwares (the first one is expansive, less the 2nd); there are also several, very similar, free softwares for executing the same �magical� operations: recovering lost or deleted files:"
Friday, March 03, 2006
Puzzle Alarm Clock Presents Mild Challenge, Wakes You Up - Gizmodo
Puzzle Alarm Clock Presents Mild Challenge, Wakes You Up - Gizmodo: "Puzzle Alarm Clock Presents Mild Challenge, Wakes You Up
READ MORE: Gadgets, Household, Puzzle, alarm clock
puzzle_alarm.jpgIf you’ve snoozed through one-too-many alarms and then way overslept, Bim Bam Banana’s Puzzle Alarm Clock will give you a quick intelligence test that is bound to wake you up before it will stop its incessant honking. As soon as you can assemble the four puzzle pieces that are popped up into the air at your predesignated time, the thing will finally shut up. That should be just enough commotion to assure that you won’t go drifting back into la-la land. You’ll pay $52 for that privilege."
Adrian's Rojak Pot - Where The Best In Technology Gather
Adrian's Rojak Pot - Where The Best In Technology Gather: "The Windows Taskkill Utility
Ever wished you could just end a few programs just by running a batch file? Or have you ever wanted to automatically end some programs according to a certain schedule?
Even if you Google, you won't be able to find a free software that will allow you to even do such simple tasks. But fret not, we will show you how to do it in this guide. And the best of all, this method is totally free of charge!
How can we do that? Well, that's because Windows XP has a built-in utility that allows you to do all the above for free!
This utility is called Taskkill. Most people will not have heard of it. It's designed to end one or more tasks or processes by killing the process ID or image name of the running program. Let us show you how to make use of it."
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Free Online Books > Computers & Internet
Free Online Books > Computers & Internet: "2020OK.com
Directory of FREE Online Books"
Javascript in Ten Minutes (Javascript)
Javascript in Ten Minutes (Javascript): "
Javascript
(ECMAScript)
Javascript in Ten Minutes"
Welcome | UbuntuLite.org - Ubuntu Power For Slow Machines
Welcome | UbuntuLite.org - Ubuntu Power For Slow Machines: "UbuntuLite - Ubuntu Power For Slow Machines"
LMMS - easy music-production for everyone
LMMS - easy music-production for everyone: "What is LMMS?
LMMS aims to be a free alternative to popular (but commercial and closed- source) programs like FruityLoops, Cubase and Logic giving you the ability of producing music with your computer by creating cool loops, synthesizing and mixing sounds, arranging samples, having more fun with your MIDI-keyboard and much more...
LMMS combines the features of a tracker-/sequencer-program (pattern-/channel-/ sample-/song-/effect-management) and those of powerful synthesizers and samplers in a modern, user-friendly and easy to use graphical user-interface."
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
No click links
No click links: "No click links
What?
No-click-links are link which you don't have to click.
Example
Click the following link, or hover your mouse above it for 1 second (untill it is totaly faded).
It will both trigger your browser to follow the link."
IT Manager's Journal | What IT managers can learn from software developers
IT Manager's Journal | What IT managers can learn from software developers: "There are various practices associated with software development that can be of great benefit to an IT department, but since few IT managers follow what goes on in the software engineering field, and even fewer come from a software engineering background, most managers are unaware of these ideas and technologies. This is unfortunate, as there are so many tools and techniques employed by programmers that could be put to good use in IT.
The first thing that all good software projects have is a consistent documentation methodology. Unfortunately, from the smallest to the largest, almost all IT shops have inadequate documentation of their systems, policies, and procedures. Most professional software developers will tell you that even for a one-man software project, good documentation is critical to getting things done quickly and efficiently with as few errors as as possible. You may think that you can hold all that information in your head, but when you come back to a system six months after you last configured it, you are essentially a different person. You may not have any idea what you changed and why, which is just like a developer coming back to a section of code and having no idea what a particular function or subroutine does. A single comment around that subroutine, which would have taken five minutes when it was first written, would help. But six months later, the developer has to spend far more than five minutes figuring out what the code does so he can figure out how to change it safely.
For this reason, I recommend that you document virtually everything that can be documented. I'm not suggesting creating elaborate, 500-page policy manuals. However, when you order a new server, document its original hardware configuration, along with vendor information, hardware and software serial numbers, etc. Similarly, when one of your network engineers brings his kid to work, and the child decides to play 'telephone operator' with your LAN's patch panels, it sure would be helpful to have documentation mapping out those interconnects.
Because of the nature of IT, I do not recommend that you have much in the way of printed documentation. In most fast-paced IT departments, printed documents get outdated quickly. Instead, I recommend that you implement a wiki on your corporate intranet. In this way, all of your staff members can update documentation as necessary, and you will even be able to roll back changes if people make mistakes. Plus, everyone will always be viewing the most current set of docs, so as long as you keep your wiki up to date, your IT people will always have the latest version of the information they need.
Probably the two most popular wiki programs are MediaWiki and TWiki. Both are free software licensed under the GPL. I strongly recommend TWiki for these documentation projects, as it was designed from the ground up to be an enterprise collaboration program."
