Macheads

I watched an interesting video on Hulu about Macheads.

The only Apple product I own is an iPod shuffle, but I think many people are aware of the cult of Mac (or Apple).  It almost seems that a prerequisite for inclusion as a Machead you have to have an eclectic style sense.

Ignite Presentations

Have you seen videos from Ignite before?  Ignite is a community of geeks that explain a subject in 5 minutes using 20 slides in front of an audience.  The presentation is recorded and shared on their site and through YouTube.

Here's a great presentation on displaying information visually:

Google Makes Maps Easier to Navigate

The Google Maps team has made navigating in Street View a lot easier (and much quicker).

 

Google Wave

Have you heard about the new app being developed by Google? 

It's called Google Wave.  I first came across it on Lifehacker's post "The Google Wave Highlight Reel".  Lifehacker has eight short YouTube clips taken from the 80 minute preview given during Google I/O 2009.

Here's Google's description of Wave:

Google Wave is a product that helps users communicate and collaborate on the web. A "wave" is equal parts conversation and document, where users can almost instantly communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. Google Wave is also a platform with a rich set of open APIs that allow developers to embed waves in other web services and to build extensions that work inside waves.

I watched through the highlights first and then played the whole demonstration in the background.  It's really amazing. 

The team stated their goal was to answer the question "What if e-mail were invented today?"  E-mail was created 40 years ago simulating snail mail.  It doesn't take into account many of the technologies we use today to communicate: SMS, IM, blogging or social networking, or any combination of these technologies. 

Google Wave is the answer to that question.  And it is open source.  Google wants developers writing code for Wave. 

The demonstration highlights will give you an overall understanding of how the team combined these different technologies into a single real-time collaborative communication tool.  That's a mouth full of jargon, but what it comes down to is that Wave starts off like any other email client, but allows you to reply to specific parts of the message, with that reply posted under that section of the message.  And you get to see the reply real-time like in an IM.  Only it's better than IM because the letters are transmitted real-time... not when the message is complete.  And since it's one message and the replies are kept inline with the thread or "wave", someone who's added later to the thread can see EVERYTHING that everyone else has discussed.  There's even a playback feature that allows a late comer to the thread to play the entire event back, starting with the original message and progressing through each progressive comment and reply.

To top it all off they have redefined the spell-check dictionary.

To start with, check out the short clips of Google Wave: The Google Wave Highlight Reel

Here's the full demonstration given by the Google development team on day 2 of Google I/O:

 

Additional Resources:

• Product:  wave.google.com
• Platform:  code.google.com/apis/wave 
• Protocol: www.waveprotocol.org 

G1 Android Cupcake Release

Last Saturday I finally received the much anticipated OS release codenamed "Cupcake" for the Android OS on my G1 phone. 

 

There were some aesthetic upgrades to icons, backgrounds and such. 

What I noticed immediately was that there were much needed improvements to the camera:

• a more intuitive GUI
• video capabilities
• faster shutter speeds
• additional "sharing" capabilities, although I use Flickr and Google owns Picasa... so Picasa made the cut and Flickr didn't

Intel's Medfield

I read an article in Fortune this morning titled "Intel's Secret Plan".  Intel has a hush-hush program codenamed "Medfield" in Austin, Texas that they believe is going to push them into the forefront of mobile computing chips.

Intel has been there with the 386, the Pentium and now the Atom to push personal computing to the next level.  If they're able to come out with a small, uber-powerful yet power efficient chip capable of processing complex tasks for the mobile market they just may redefine handheld gadgets.

I'm eagerly awaiting the unveiling of the new chip.

In the meantime, here's a look at Fortune's timeline for Intel:

 

 

A Teardown of the G1

I came across the site iFixit via Lifehacker.  It's all about tearing down mobile electronics for hacks, upgrades or plain curiosity.

Here's a disassembled G1: http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/T-Mobile-G1/782/1

Dell Netbook

Check out this awesome deal from Dell.   It's a netbook spec'd reasonably at $199.00 before taxes and shipping. 

http://tinyurl.com/cq67zo

Dell Vostro A90

My System Details

Ubuntu Linux version 8.0.4

1 Year Basic Limited Warranty plus 1 Year Mail-in Service

512MB,DDR2,533MHZ,1 DIMM

8GB Solid State Drive

Also Included

Intel® Atom Processor$#174; N270 (1.6GHz/533Mhz FSB/512K cache)

8.9 Inch Wide Screen WSVGA TL Display (1024x600)

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950

Wireless 802.11g Mini Card

Bluetooth 2.1 module via USB I/F (Option)

Integrated 0.3M Pixel Webcam

Obsidian Black

No Onsite System Setup

35WHr Battery (4 cell)

ATM Card Skimming Awareness

I came across a presentation on ATM card skimming prepared by a security group for a bank.  It's worth reviewing.

ATM Card Skimming and PIN capturing Awareness Guide

Pics: What if Google was founded in the 1960s?

This is too good not to share.

 

 

Sent to you by mister_cbond via Google Reader:

 

 

Pics: What if Google was founded in the 1960s?

via Geekend by Jay Garmon on 4/16/09

A couple of cunning humorists happen upon the same notion: What if Google was founded in the pre-Internet era, when search queries would have been handled by the predominate communications medium of the day — snail mail? Check out the Google Search request form and query postcard, available at quality libraries near you (during the Nixon administration).

(Via Fury.com and Boomerang via LaughingSquid.)

 

 

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• Subscribe to Geekend using Google Reader
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Android Versus iPhone 3.0: The Showdown [IPhone 3.0]

 

 

Sent to you by mister_cbond via Google Reader:

 

 

Android Versus iPhone 3.0: The Showdown [IPhone 3.0]

via Lifehacker by Gina Trapani on 3/18/09

Apple's releasing some hot new features in iPhone 3.0 this summer, but will it be better than Google's Android? Let's take a look.

You already know what you get in iPhone 2.0, you've heard about what you get in iPhone 3.0. Let's see how those features stack up against Android's current release and its upcoming update (called "Cupcake") feature by feature.

The Breakdown

There's a whole lot of green in the iPhone 3.0 column of that chart above, and some red and yellow in the Android side. That's mostly because we're comparing Android to the feature set Apple unveiled yesterday; it doesn't mean that new smartphone buyers stuck between iPhone and Android should automatically wait for iPhone 3.0. It all depends on what you need.

The phone features that actually matter to you: While much has been made of cut/copy and paste coming to iPhone 3.0, many smartphone users say they haven't run into many situations where they needed it. The feature that's getting less press but may add more usefulness to iPhone 3.0 is search: with Spotlight, and within Mail, Contacts, and Calendar.

Personally, besides its Gmail client, the feature I love most about Android that the iPhone doesn't come close to is Android's pull-down "window shade" notification area, that lists multiple alerts. So if you've gotten an SMS, new email, a Twitter reply, a missed call, you can drag and drop the window shade down to see them all. (See screenshot.) The iPhone still pops up a box you have to dismiss to do anything else (include hang up a call!), which is simply an inferior way to handle alerts.

Background processes versus push notifications: While it's wonderful in theory that Android runs background processes, Apple's point about how it kills your battery life is absolutely true in my experience. It remains to be seen how well iPhone 3.0's push notifications will work when they actually do come out (hence the yellow coloring in the table), but right now, the battery life point is not just a bunch of marketing hooha (which is why it got the yellow coloring in the table, too). Besides, Apple has promised and not delivered push notifications before, so we'll believe this one when we see it.

iPhone 3.0's application potential: The other big "remains to be seen" part of iPhone 3.0 is where developers will take the new functionality available to them in iPhone 3.0. Voice over IP, maps integration, peer-to-peer Bluetooth, media access, accessory-specific apps—these are really exciting options for application developers that will surely bloom into a million great apps and functionality that haven't been born yet.

When you're in control of the hardware: When two different pieces of software are competing, it's pretty easy to for one to respond to another feature by feature, and we expect Android will offer similar features as iPhone 3.0 eventually. But when you're in control of the hardware like Apple is, you can do things like enable accessory support—which means, for example, that diabetics can plug their glucose meter into the iPhone and download readings. Since Google's Android is just the operating system that will run on various handsets with different hardware configurations, that sort of software-to-hardware control will not be as easy.

But given what we know now... As a former iPhone user who switched to Android, I can say: iPhone 3.0 hasn't made me regret my decision. Yet. Right now, Android's killer Gmail client, proper MMS support (available now), background processes (even though they kill the battery), window shade, and general Google product integration makes me a happy camper. In fact, on the chart above, the top five items are the features most important to me, and Android—right now, not this summer—hits on almost all of them.

That said, given the potential of iPhone 3.0, gamers, audiophiles, and others may disagree. What about you?

iPhone 3.0 or Android?
( surveys)

Let us know what you're thinking about iPhone versus Android (and Windows Mobile, etc, for that matter), in the comments.

Gina Trapani, Lifehacker's founding editor, adores healthy competition that leads to better software. Her weekly feature, Smarterware, appears every Wednesday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Smarterware tag feed to get new installments in your newsreader.

 

 

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• Subscribe to Lifehacker using Google Reader
• Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites

 

 

Custom Fonts

I came across a periodic table for fonts recently and it made me think of generating a custom font.

 

Image from http://www.behance.net/

 

A quick search for custom fonts led me to this site: http://www.yourfonts.com/

Basically the steps break down like this:

1. Print out the character form
2. Fill in each letter with your handwriting
3. Scan the form
4. Generate your font using the scanned image of the form
5. Download and install your font

The first font I created was really messy, so I created a second, which I think is an improvement, but still isn't quite what I want. 

I also had an idea for a "ransom" font which could be funny.  If I were to cut out characters from newspapers and magazines to use, paste them to the form and generate a font.  I'll let you know if I get around to that.

Here's the first font I did, starting with the form:

CBOND FONT 1

SINCE I USUALLY WRITE IN ALL CAPS, I WILL WRITE OUT THE SAMPLE STATEMENT IN ALL CAPS.

“WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, IN ORDER TO FROM A MORE PERFECT UNION, ESTABLISH JUSTICE, INSURE DOMESTIC TRANQUILITY, PROVIDE FOR THE COMMON DEFENCE, PROMOTE THE GENERAL WELFARE, AND SECURE THE BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY TO OURSELVES AND OUR POSTERITY, DO ORDAIN AND ESTABLISH THIS CONSTITUTION FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA”

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

 

And here is the second font, starting with the form:

 

CBOND FONT 2

SINCE I USUALLY WRITE IN ALL CAPS, I WILL WRITE OUT THE SAMPLE STATEMENT IN ALL CAPS.

“WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, IN ORDER TO FROM A MORE PERFECT UNION, ESTABLISH JUSTICE, INSURE DOMESTIC TRANQUILITY, PROVIDE FOR THE COMMON DEFENCE, PROMOTE THE GENERAL WELFARE, AND SECURE THE BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY TO OURSELVES AND OUR POSTERITY, DO ORDAIN AND ESTABLISH THIS CONSTITUTION FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA”

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Jellyfish Wind Power

There's a neat idea from a company named Clarian Technologies, generating power at home using wind.  I haven't read the specs or seen much more than the YouTube video.  I can't say whether it's all hype or not. 

For more info: http://www.clariantechnologies.com/main/page_home.html

 

Google Searches Return Bogus Warnings - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News

I was up early this morning searching for information on the Houston Auto Show. For a couple of minutes when I would navigate over to the official site I received a Google page stating that the page was malicious.

I just read on Fox News that this was an error caused by a daily update from a project that tracks malicious websites.

For more on the story: FOXNews.com - Google Searches Return Bogus Warnings - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News

The History of the Internet

Here's a fascinating video of the history of the Internet:

 

History of the Internet from PICOL on Vimeo.

Geek Flow Chart

Speaking of flow charts, while I was searching for the Air Force Blog Assessment flowchart I came across this.  It's pretty funny.

Updated Professional Site

I've updated my professional site, http://www.colinbond.com today. The previous version looked a little too hokey. I hope this looks better.

Checkout the Google Zeitgeist 2008

Google has a Zeitgeist analysis for 2008.  It's interesting to look at:

2008 Year-End Google Zeitgeist As the year comes to a close, it's time to look at the big events, memorable moments and emerging trends that captivated us in 2008. As it happens, studying the aggregation of the billions of search queries that people type into the Google search box gives us a glimpse into the zeitgeist the spirit of the times. We've compiled some of the highlights from Google searches around the globe and hope you enjoy looking back as much as we do.

Google Zeitgeist 2008

Mindjet Mind Manager 8

Mindjet released a new version of the Mind Manager software.  I've downloaded it and am currently evaluating it.

Some of the cool new features include saving it as an interactive PDF that can be distributed.   The graphics are slick as well.

Here's a link to a PDF I generated:

• Test Map

Resources:

• Mindjet

Google Reader & Me

I was looking at my Google Reader trends this afternoon.  I do the most reading of news around 9 in the morning and it trails off by 11. 

From your 96 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 9,422 items, starred 38 items, shared 67 items, and emailed 36 items.

I also have a tendency to check RSS feeds more on Mondays, followed by Friday.

Last 30 days

 

Items posted = blue

Items read = orange

 

Time of day

 

Items posted = blue

Items read = orange

Day of the week

Items posted = blue

Items read = orange

I star the most from these three sites:

• NRA-ILA News
• Lifehacker
• Fox International

These are the most emailed sites:

• Engadget
• Lifehacker
• Cato Recent Op-eds

I shared the most from these sites:

• Lifehacker
• The Register
• NRA-ILA News

If you want to check out my shared items go to the link in the sidebar of my blog and select Google Reader Shared Items. 

Google Reader

Buzzword Generator

Awhile back I wrote a buzzword generator in VBA.  Here's the version I use for either generating a spreadsheet with 500 buzzwords or to generate one as a popup.

Feel free to use the code:

 

Private Function RandomizedNumber( _
    intLow As Integer, intHigh As Integer)
    Randomize
    RandomizedNumber = Int((intHigh * Rnd) + intLow)
End Function
 
 Public Sub MSGME()
 ' Returns a message box with one buzzword
 MsgBox ReturnBuzzword3
 End Sub

 Public Sub Create500()
' Creates 500 buzzwords on the CURRENT sheet
  Dim x As Integer
    
    For x = 1 To 500
        Cells(x, 1).Value = ReturnBuzzword3
    Next x
 End Sub
 
Private Function ReturnBuzzword3()
  Dim varColumn(210, 1) As Variant
  Dim intI As Integer, 
  DIM int1 As Integer, int2 As Integer, int3 As Integer
  Dim blnContinue As Boolean
    ' Use this space to load array with adj, verbs & Nouns
  Do Until blnContinue = True
    int1 = RandomizedNumber(0, UBound(varColumn))
    int2 = RandomizedNumber(0, UBound(varColumn))
    int3 = RandomizedNumber(0, UBound(varColumn))
    blnContinue = False
    If (int1 <> int2) And (int1 <> int3) And (int2 <> int3) Then
        If ((varColumn(int1, 1) = "adverb") Or (varColumn(int1, 1) = "verb")) _
            And (varColumn(int2, 1) = "adjective") _
            And (varColumn(int3, 1) = "noun") Then
                blnContinue = True
        End If
    End If
  Loop
  ReturnBuzzword3 = varColumn(int1, 0) & " " & varColumn(int2, 0) & " " & varColumn(int3, 0) & " "  
End Function

Mind Mapping

I like to use mind mapping to brainstorm and organize thoughts and tasks.  I use a licenced software that I paid for, but there are a number of free mind mapping applications available.

Here's one that Justin and I collaborated on for a joint best man speech  at Geoff and Pam's wedding:

 

For a list of the free applications, see Wikipedia's article on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mind_Mapping_software

Do you use RSS?

Of all the things that I find efficient with computing and the internet, RSS is absolutely up there as a simple implementation that greatly increases efficient data gathering.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.  What does that mean?  It means that rather than surfing to a thousand news and blog sites everyday to find out what's going on, you subscribe to a URL from that site that let's you know when new information is available. 

The best explanation is a video available from Common Craft.  Take a moment to watch it, it's really good.

Over the past five or six years I've used several different RSS feed aggregators: News Gator, Google Reader, MS Outlook 2007's built in reader, and a reader I built in MS Access.  The one that I like the most, though, is the RSS feed reader built into IE 7. 

It doesn't matter so much which reader you prefer, just as long as you RSS a try. 

For example, here's what my blog looks like through a RSS feed reader (IE 7):

 

On the left you see all the categories that I have set up (as folders).  The each feed I subscribe to is displayed.  If it's bold that means that I have unread feeds.  Most news feeds only display a summary under the title, so you can skim through the articles.  When you find something you want to read, you click on the title and it opens in the browser so you can read the entire article. 

My blog is set up to give the read the entire entry, so there's no need to go to my site to read the articles. 

My new favorite blog is Lifehacker.

Enjoy the RSS video.

Switchabit

 

I read a Lifehacker post earlier today that mentioned a new beta service, switchabit.  This service reroutes messages from one social networking service to another automatically.  This makes posting to multiple services really simple.  Post a twit and it appears in Facebook.  Post a new photo on Flickr and it gets sent to Twitter and Facebook.

I've just set up my account, so I haven't evaluated it long enough to comment on it.  Conceptually, though, this is a great service.  Currently it is free.

Life Hacker

I recently subscribed to the RSS feeds from a blog titled LifeHacker.  The blog gives great tips for reducing the time it takes to do everyday things.  From computer programs to tips and tricks in the real world, there's lots of good info at this site.

I thought I would share.

The Fed Gets Into Spamming

This is an interesting article regarding the Fed's new program to send
alert text messages to mobile phones:

FCC builds giant text spam engine for terror warnings

jst 2 let u knw, there's an @ak pl& on d USA l8r 2day

By Bill Ray
<http://forms.theregister.co.uk/mail_author/?story_url=/2008/04/10/fcc_text_
warnings/> → More by this author
<http://search.theregister.co.uk/?author=Bill%20Ray>

Published Thursday 10th April 2008 11:57 GMT

The Federal Communications Commission is set to announce the launch of a
national alert system, using text messaging and other mobile technologies to
tell Americans when to panic.

The system will be announced on Wednesday, according to both CNN
<http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/09/technology/fcc_cell_phone_alert/index.htm?s
ection=money_latest> and USA Today
<http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/2008-04-08-fcc-emergency_N.htm> .
Carriers will be asked to opt in, while customers can opt out if they wish.
CNN reports that all the major US carriers are signed up to the plan, at
least in concept.

The idea is that a federal agency, as yet unnamed, will be given the
password to the biggest mobile spamming engine ever created, and told to
only use it in an emergency. They will use the system to let people know
when there's a terrorist attack, ideally beforehand but more likely just
afterwards, or a natural disaster, with the same caveat.

If the system gets over-used then punters can opt out of receiving more
messages, and carriers will also be able to withdraw from the system.

Assuming the agency responsible can be discouraged from false alarms then
the idea makes some sense, though it could be susceptible to feature creep;
CNN reports that the same agency will also pass on Amber Alerts.

The Amber Alert system operates across the US and serves to let local media,
and interested citizens, know when a child has been abducted. A similar
system is being considered for use across Europe, endorsed by the parents of
Madeleine McCann. Despite the low number of abductions they are emotive
events, even when the "abductee" turns out to be hiding at a relative's or
friend's house.

Setting up such alert systems is expensive, and one should be careful of any
law named after a person (as the Amber Alert system is), as its enactment
may be driven emotionally rather than based on cool assessment of the
benefits. (r)

The Osborne 1 luggable computer

For some of us our earliest memories of computers are Commodore-128's and
Tandy's... maybe and Apple II or IIe? But what is your earliest memory of a
'portable' computer?

Recently some colleagues (who have twenty years on me) were discussing
'luggable' computers, the first truly portable computers and the predecessor
to the laptop. I believe I sparked the conversation with a comment about my
computer bag. I currently carry two laptops, two power supplies, a 500GB
external hard drive and countless USB peripherals. My computer bag weighs
between 20-25 lbs.

The Osborne <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_1> 1, by comparison,
weighed 23.5 lbs. So 27 years later, for the same weight I have almost 2000
times the computing power at my disposal, plus the convenience of a number
of peripheral devices that were unimaginable in 1981.

If I compare the stronger laptop I carry against the Osborne 1, here's how
the comparison breaks down:

Osborne 1

Dell XPS M1710

Year

1981

2007

Disk Drives

Dual 5¼-inch, single-sided 40 track floppy disk drives ("dual density"
upgrade available)

1 x 100GB @ 2700 RPM; 1 X DVD R/RW

CPU

4 MHz Z80 CPU

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7600 (2.33GHz/4MB)

Memory

65 kilobytes main memory

4GB SDRAM (DIMM)

Screen

5-inch, 52 character × 24 line monochrome CRT display

17-inch LCD; 512MB NVIDIA GeForce Graphics Card

Ports

IEEE-488 port configurable as a Parallel printer port

6x USB 2.0; 1 x Firewire; CRT/HD out; 1 x Expansion Port; 1 X Flash Card
Port

Comms

RS-232 compatible 1200 or 300 baud Serial port for use with external modems
or serial printers

1 X Internal Wireless & Bluetooth Card; 1 x Ethernet & Phone Card (1 port
each)

Here are some photos and descriptions of the first luggables, courtesy of
Tech Republic:

<http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2347-10877_11-191880-191885.html?seq=5>
Keyboard

These screens were only 5" and monochrome. Notice the dual 5 ¼" floppy
drives! That's one drive for applications and one for data. SWEET!

<http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2347-10877_11-191880-191886.html?seq=6>
Familiar ports

Ah, serial ports, long before USB!

<http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2347-10877_11-191880-191887.html?seq=7>
A battery -- that's innovation

It was the first to have a battery pack accessory!

<http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2347-10877_11-191880-191892.html?seq=12
> Wordstar

This one still works... I've burned through several laptops since the mid
90's that certainly don't work anymore. What quality!

More photos can be viewed here:
http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-10877_11-191880-5.html

USB Missile Launcher

Jefe got Yeager and me a USB Missile Launcher a couple of weeks ago. Here's mine set up in my office.

UPDATE:

I showed the Missile Launcher to my manager and he loved it! My coworkers found it hilarious as well.

Thanks, Jefe.

Pidgin

Didier introduced me to an IM software, Pidgin, that let's you consolidate all of your IM protocols into one interface (with the option of tabbed discussions).

Check it out: http://www.pidgin.im/

Blu Ray out in Front

I thought I would share the article I was talking about that declares Blu Ray in front of the HD DVD format:

http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9750763-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5