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[Uae Web Of Life] USE - UAE Useful Stuff Exchange
Sunday, March 25, 2007

The USE blog features:

1) Scans of important info from any UAE printed public literature

2) Business Card scans of UAE residents offering USEful services.

Any scan / business card that you feel would be USEful for our UAE readers are welcome. Just email it to useuae@gmail.com.


UAE UAE
http://useuae.blogspot.com

posted by ORB-UAE - Creative Club @ 2:12 PM, ,




Interesting web stuff
Monday, March 12, 2007

Freeload Press Makes Textbooks Free

Mar 05, 2007 19:10:03 GMT

Freeload Press is a US company with a very noble mission: "liberating the textbooks so students from all financial backgrounds can use these important learning tools." They try to convince authors make their books available for free in exchange of a sum of money. Then Freeload Press takes the books and inserts ads at the end of the chapters. The online version of the book will be available for free as a PDF, while the print version will be much cheaper than the original.

Tom Doran, cofounder of Freeload, explains why he built the company: "Textbooks cost too much, and students increasingly are showing up to class without probably the most important tool they need to succeed in the course, outside of the lecture."


Many teachers will probably say it's unacceptable to promote commercial products in an educational book, but Freeload's limited success should be a signal that this model might work at a larger scale, if implemented in a clever way. Freeload's tagline ("Imagine a world where textbooks are free") could be replaced with: "Imagine a world where books are free".


URBANFONTS - Free Fonts

 See our amazing collection of free fonts and free dingbats. With over 8,000 freeware fonts, you've come to the best place to download fonts. Please review our FAQs section for font installation instructions.

http://www.urbanfonts.com/


FULLBOOKS.COM

Thousands of free full text books

http://www.fullbooks.com/


Edison the Inventor, Edison the Showman

This article was adapted from "The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World," by Randall Stross, a contributor to The New York Times. The book, to be published on Tuesday by Crown Publishers, examines the reality and the myths surrounding the Edison legacy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/business/yourmoney/11edison.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&ref=business&oref=slogin



posted by ORB-UAE - Creative Club @ 8:16 AM, ,




Some interesting tidbits of news
Tuesday, March 06, 2007



MIT puts entire curriculum at disposal of e-learners

E-learning for free from famed US institute

By Kim Thomas 23 Feb 2007

The entire catalogue of information from 1,800 courses at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will be available free online by
the end of the year. Once uploaded, it will represent one of the internet's most important resources.

By providing free access to course material such as lecture notes, assignment details, podcasts and videocasts, MIT's Open CourseWare programme will transform the e-learning landscape.


Complete Article: http://www.iwr.co.uk/information-world-review/news/2184062/mit-puts-entire-curriculum


12 Quick Tips To Search Google Like An Expert

I f you're like me, you probably use Google many times a day.  But, chances are, unless you are a technology geek, you probably still use Google in its simplest form.  If your current use of Google is limited to typing a few words in, and changing your query until you find what you're looking for, then I'm here to tell you that there's a better way – and it's not hard to learn.  On the other hand, if you are a technology geek, and can use Google like the best of them already, then I suggest you bookmark this article.  You'll then have it on hand when you are ready to pull your hair out in frustration when watching a neophyte repeatedly type in basic queries in a desperate attempt to find something.

http://www.smallbusinesshub.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/1264/12-Quick-Tips-To-Search-Google-Like-An-Expert.aspx


How to be famous in this century: Be an "Ideapreneur".

The opportunity to re invent and integrate in the coming years is huge and it's up to each individual to make use of it. In this century, everyone will and can be an innovator, people are the users and they will have the final word on the product at the end of the day. As it is, there is an obvious shift of power from the corporations to the end users. People now search for the reviews from other people online on the product before buying. This shift of power has been possible by the greatest invention of this century and yes you guessed it, the internet. It is the people's economy and somewhere in the present and the future, this shift of power will reflect a thinning line between the marketer and the consumer.
Read More


Indian State orders 40,000 desktops with Linux installed

The Indian State of Tamil Nadu has finalized an order with lenovo to pre-install Novell's Suse Linux on 40,000 machines. Adoption of this scale will have a very positive impact on linux and its advances in the Indian Market.


India: How to feed free food to 10,000 people a day

Mar 06, 2007 01:50:14 GMT

Xeni Jardin:

Sarah Rich of Worldchanging is in Delhi at the Doors of Perception conference, checking out local food systems. She's posted a write-up of a Sikh institution, the Langar, which feeds 10,000 people a day on donated food and volunteer labor. She writes:

As Debra Solomon told us when introducing the excursion the previous evening: "They do the most exquisite dishwashing ritual you'll ever see." But actually, the Sikh guide who escorted us through the temple grounds told us in no uncertain terms that the kitchen activities are absolutely without ritual. "Cooking food is cooking food," he said, "No ritual. Just cooking." But if it can't be called a ritual, it can surely be called a dance -- a rhythmic, continuous choreography with mounds of dough, cauldrons of lentils, dozens of hands, and an endless stream of hungry visitors.

Every Sikh temple throughout the world has a Langar (Punjabi for "free kitchen"). This is not a soup kitchen. It's not exclusively for the poor, nor exclusively for the Sikh community. Volunteering in the cooking, serving and cleaning process is a form of active spiritual practice for devotees, but the service they provide asks no religious affiliation of its recipients. Our guide's chorus was, "Man, woman, color, caste, community," meaning you will be fed here regardless of how you fit into any of those classifications.

This spirit of inclusion and equality is reinforced by the kitchen's adherence to vegetarianism, not because Sikhs are vegetarian, but because others who visit may be, and by serving no meat, they exclude nobody.

Link (thanks, Alex Steffen!)


BREAKTHROUGH: Transistor Built Only One Atom Thick

New transistors are only one atom thick and less than 50 atoms wide. The development opens the gate to superfast computer chips at sizes not possible before with standard Silicon transistors.


Invention: Electronic treats

Mar 05, 2007 13:58:00 GMT

This week's patent applications include digital exercise incentives, a cellphone public-address system and a clever advert killer


PICTURES: Great Photos of New York's Bridges (1900-1930)

IvanB IvanB submitted, made popular 16 hours 17 min ago ( www.newyorker.com )

Sideshow of NY's bridges circa 1900-1930. More…



What were you doing at age 21? Probably not changing the Web...

This is the story of Matt Mullenweg, the founder of Wordpress. He is only 23 now but has changed the way many of us share ideas and use our blogs to connect with people all over the world.


The 50 Most Important People on the Web

Despite what Time magazine would have you believe, you are not the most powerful or influential person on the Web. At PC World we love online personals, social networks, and videos of people falling on their keisters as much as the next person, but without the folks who create the Craigslists, MySpaces, and YouTubes of the world, much of the Web's


5 Common English Mistakes That Make You Look Dumb

http://www.copyblogger.com/5-common-mistakes-that-make-you-look-dumb/





--
ORB-UAE Editor

Now a more vibrant ORB is on Ryze -
Join at http://orb-network.ryze.com/

ORB-UAE Creative Club Yahoo Forum
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/orb-uae

Blogs:

Home Blog
http://orbuae.blogspot.com

The Free E-Book Library
http://orbrary.blogspot.com

Creative Sparks-Art by Members
http://orbsparks.blogspot.com

UAE Web of Life
http://uaeweboflife.blogspot.com

CUB - Cool UAE Blogs
http://cooluaeblogs.blogspot.com

BEDOWIN - UAE Bargains and Deals
http://bedowin.blogspot.com

posted by ORB-UAE - Creative Club @ 10:05 AM, ,




[The Web Informant] Cartoon based on Spam, Swedish cottages on the Moon and more....
Thursday, October 12, 2006

The Web Informant
Web Tech & Interesting Information, distilled and filtered for quick consumption for my friends and family

This post may not appear correctly in the Daily Digest option. If so, please read it directly at the group webpage or on my blog.



Cartoon based on spam

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 22:18:11 -0500

Mark Frauenfelder:Picture 1-24The marvelous Brothers McLeod are creating a series of cartoons calledSpamland. The dialogue for the cartoons comes from the semi-sensicaltext found in the filter-busting portion of spam messages.

The first one is online and is nightmarishly excellent. Link (Via Drawn!)










Swedish cottages on the moon

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 16:28:54 -0500

Cory Doctorow:Christopher sez, "A Swedish artist is collaborating with the Swedishgovernment to try and put a toy-sized replica of Sweden's iconic redcottages on the moon."
"If we manage to do this Sweden will be the third country to occupy the moon", said SSC's Fredrik von Schéele.

A competition has been arranged for students to construct a littlered house that is suitably sized for placement by a moon landingdevice. The construction may not exceed eight square metres and canweigh a maximum of four kilos.

Link(Thanks, Christopher! )



Tape-measure brooch

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 11:57:47 -0500

Cory Doctorow: This brooch florette made from a folded and refolded tape measure really tickles me.Link(via Craft)












Pinball photos from the ball's PoV

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 12:00:08 -0500

Cory Doctorow: Kevin Tiell's photos of pinball games shot from the level of the ball as it zings across the table are stupendous.Link(Thanks, Edmond! )



Page from McCloud's "Making Comics"

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 00:03:50 -0500

Mark Frauenfelder:200610102102 Cory recently reviewed Scott McCloud's amazing new book, Making Comics.Kevin Kelly also reviewed it on Cool Tools and included this marvelouspage from the book about combining two primary facial expressions tocreate a complex facial expression. Link














RSS and Atom in Action

2006-10-11T19:35:00+00:00

SimonP. Chappell writes "We've all seen them, those icons that decorateblogs and websites; sometimes they're just little orange squares withwhite stripes, while others say RSS or Atom. Many of us have heard offeeds and podcasts and aggregators. What are these things and where didthey come from? Well, Dave Johnson, the author of the open sourceRoller blogging software, is glad you asked and by way of an answer,he's written RSS and Atom in Action." Read the rest of Simon's review.


Honey Remedy Could Save Limbs

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 01:00:00 EDT

Modern, drug-resistant bacteria are meeting their match in an ancient medicine: honey. Sweeeeeet. By Brandon Keim.


Teenager plays Space Invaders with only his brain

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 13:26:00 EST

Filed under: ,

While having a robotic assistantplay video games for you might sound novel, it's certainly not asthrilling as interacting with the 1s and 0s yourself. A team ofresearchers, engineers, and students at Washington University in St.Louis have crafted a brain-computer interface systemthat allowed a 14-year old gamer suffering from epilepsy to cruisethrough the first two levels of Space Invaders using only hisimagination. Rather than picking up an Xbox 360 and perusing through the Xbox Live Arcade, the crew went back to their roots and programmed an Atari2600 to interface with the brain-sensing apparatus. The headgearboasted a grid of sensors that monitored "electrocorticographicactivity" from the brain's surface to detect signals based on thoughtprocesses that were going on. By calibrating his thoughts with videogame triggers, the teenager was able to learn the ropes "almostinstantaneously," and had no qualms demolishing the competition whiletwiddling his thumbs. The group plans to use this successful experimentto further understand the mysterious signals of the mind and givephysically disabled individuals a chance to show of their mentalsharpness, but we're hoping to see this thing bundled in with the sure-to-be-delayed PlayStation 8 that should hit shelves sometime before 2040 2050.

[Via MedGadget]



Oh no, Japan's Robot Museum opens tomorrow!

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 10:03:00 EST

Filed under:

Sure to be ground-zero of the eventual uprising, Nagoya's Robot Museumis set to swing their doors wide during tomorrow's grand opening event.For just a ¥1,300 (about $11) entry fee, you can walk the entire 2,600meters of floor space spanning two levels. Armed only with an iPodaudio guide, you can go face-to-face with heavy-duty industrial robots,old school icons like Robby the Robot, an army of modern Robosapiens and Mindstorms, some "future eve" creepiness we'd rather not get into, and of course ASIMO, AIBO, and even little Miuro.Oh, gasp... there's even a couple uh, hundred we've never seen before.If you go be sure to check the robot mirai department where you cantake home nuvo -- the world's first commercial bipedal home robot and even a Segway "vehicle of the future." Hey, no one said that human transporters were their specialty. Now excuse us, we're off to collect our rations of canned meat and welders goggles.

[Via Impress]



99% of your Blog's Readers are Lurkers - How to Get them to Comment

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 03:10:07 GMT

10 techniques for getting the silent majority of your blog's readers to leave a comment


What is Work 2.0?

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 02:30:07 GMT

"It'sless about spreadsheets and word possessing," and definitely not justabout sticking it to Microsoft by using online productivityapplications, Esther says. "And anyway," she adds, "the biggestanti-Microsoft force is inside Microsoft: Ray Ozzie."



10 reasons you shouldn't go to film school

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 20:50:10 GMT

Just in case you were thinking about it.


5 Biggest Dot-Bombs of All Time

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 20:00:11 GMT

CNET TV reports on the 5 biggest dot com failures from the internet boom of the late 90's-2000. eToys anyone?...


Coghead Goes Live: Build Applications Visually (Nik Cubrilovic/TechCrunch)

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 16:05:02 -0400

Coghead Goes Live: Build Applications Visually  —  The online application building space is one that is getting more interesting by the week.  We have previously reviewed a number of apps in this space (sometimes referred to as the 'online access' space, a reference to Microsoft Access) including Dabble DB, Zoho Creator and WyaWorks.

Source:   TechCrunch
Author:   Nik Cubrilovic
Link:   http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/10/11/coghead-goes…

Techmeme permalink



-------------------------------
The Web Informant
-------------------------------
The information is harvested from my RSS feeds from:

1)Digg.com2) TechMeme.com 3) EnGadget.com 4) BoingBoing.net5)SlashDot.org 6)Wired.com 7) Kuro5hin.org 8)GoogleSystem.blogspot.com9) TechCrunch.com10)NonGeekSight.blogspot.com 11) Reddit.com 12)SethGodin.typepad.com13)Chris.Pirillo.com 14) InstaPundit.com 15)Scobleizer.wordpress.com16)PhyOrg.com


Read the older posts here: http://blogs.weyak.ae/writer

posted by ORB-UAE - Creative Club @ 8:54 AM, ,




[The Web Informant] - Green Lantern ring, Useful Book of Ideas and more...
Wednesday, October 11, 2006

The Web Informant
Web Tech & Interesting Information, distilled and filtered for quick consumption for my friends and family


HOWTO make a Green Lantern ring

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 06:10:27 -0500

Cory Doctorow: It's a little tricky and requires specialized equipment, but if you're planning on going as the Green Lantern on Hallowe'en, you could do worse than to invest in the production of one of these fantastic Green Lantern rings. Link (via Make Blog)


Severed hand pincushions

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 06:06:10 -0500

Cory Doctorow:
Flickr user AK_IceCube makes handsome, ooky severed hand pincushions out of fabric. Link (via Craft Blog)



Roll-up fry-pan

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 10:17:33 -0500

Cory Doctorow: The Scroll Pan is a roll-up nonstick frying surface -- unroll it over the burner and use it to cook your omelets and suchlike. Link (via OhGizmo)


Handheld printer made from a toner cartridge

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 12:33:55 -0500

Cory Doctorow: This "handheld printer" was made from a repurposed HJ inkject cartridge -- because it's handheld, it can print on odd surfaces like balloons:
The fact that it was built from parts readily lying around makes, for example, that MOSFET T1 is a rather strange type. In principle any P-channel MOSFET can be used for this, as long as it can cope with the peak current of about half an amp. The coil L1 does not have a critical value either. The author's coil comes from a backlight-inverter, but any slightly hefty coil will do. If the 20-V power supply is actually in the vicinity of 20 V, then all is well.
Link (via Gizmodo)



1945 Pop Mechanics book of "Useful Ideas"

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 12:56:30 -0500

Mark Frauenfelder: JavaMoose writes:
200610100955 Picture 1-23 When my wife and I got married I found out that her late grandfather had said to the family that, when married, I was to get my choice of all his old tools. That alone was amazing, given the excellent collection of vintage woodworking tools and special-built power tools. But, it got better.

I found Pop's collection of vintage Handyman Magazines and oh how glorious they are. So, I decided to share! Every Monday I will post a "new" magazine, in its entirety, here for all to enjoy!

Link (Via Make Blog)


Generating Power From Kites

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 20:20:04 GMT

Researchers in Italy have high hopes for a new wind-power generator that resembles a backyard drying rack on steroids. Despite its appearance, the Kite Wind Generator, or KiteGen for short, could produce as much energy as a nuclear power plant.


Amazing Photoshop Brush Resource Site!

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 20:10:03 GMT

Hey guys, PS Brushes has finally launched, so if your ever looking for a certain photoshop brush be sure to check us out, we have over 170 brushes indexed and growing daily.

EXCLUSIVE: Helium Web 2.0 'knowledge rules' targets $16 billion Internet ad

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 19:50:08 GMT

What is Helium, exactly? Helium aims to be the next generation Wikipedia/About.com/Yahoo Answers/eHow…all rolled up into a clean, interactive package.


Format wars: Blu-ray to come out on top?

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 22:40:03 GMT

The next-generation optical format wars have begun, and so far the most common response from consumers is a collective yawn. Market research firm Forrester believes that those yawns will ultimately translate into a victory for Blu-ray down the road, but with adoption of either next-gen format moving at a glacial pace in the near term

Sony to Ship First 50GB Blu-ray Movies This Week

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 21:10:03 GMT

Sony has announced that Click, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and Black Hawk Down will be the first Sony films released on 50GB dual-layer Blu-ray disc. Although Blu-ray discs have been available on the market for several months now, these are 50GB dual-layer discs as opposed to the current discs being only 25GB.


Motorcycle GPS

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 23:30:09 GMT

Instructions on putting a GPS navigation system on a motorcycle. You know, cause geeks like to ride Harleys.


Private Moments Being Caught on Google Earth. For Example: Funerals.

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 23:30:09 GMT

With the continually increasing quality of images on Google Maps/Earth, it's hardly surprising that the cameras are capturing ever more private moments of people's lives. Perhaps then it was only a matter of time before the very end of someone's life was published on the Internet for the whole world to see.


Developers are from Mars, Programmers are from Venus

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 00:20:05 GMT

Many of us use the terms "programmer" and "developer" interchangeably. A very good article describing the actual difference between the two.


Watch more than 200 channels on your PC - Nothing to install.

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 02:00:04 GMT

ChooseAndWatch is a free TV portal where you can watch only the best online TV channels. Now with bigger screen and more channels than ever.


GooTube and what it means for content producers

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 03:00:04 GMT

The impending sale doesn't affect independent content creators as much as it does big media, but there are defininite advantages for the independent content producer.




Firms to boost Internet speeds without fiber-optics

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 23:00:04 GMT

"A group of technology and telecoms companies, including Spanish giant Telefonica, joined forces on Tuesday to boost the Internet speeds of copper telephone wires to almost equal that of fiber-optic cable."

USB, FireWire, and eSATA--All in One External Drive

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 20:30:03 GMT

Review: OWC ships an external hard drive that supports four direct-connect interfaces. Whether you need USB, FireWire or eSATA, OWC has you covered.

Batch of interesting Security Articles

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 20:20:04 GMT

A nice selection of recent academic papers on security research topics. Titles include:"Robust Reactions to Potential Day-Zero Worms through Cooperation and Validation""Network-Level Polymorphic Shellcode Detection Using Emulation""An Active Splitter Architecture for Intrusion Detection and Prevention"

Smile helmet forces a grin

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 13:08:58 -0500

David Pescovitz: Designer/artist Tim Simpson's Smile Helmet mechanically draws the corners of your mouth back into a grin. He created it for "people in jobs which demand an unusual amount of smiling, such as air-stewards, receptionists and politicians." A video of the device in action is available on Simpson's Web site. From the project page:
Images HelmetA sensor in the front of the helmet detects anybody within a 2 metre range, at which point the mouth is pulled into a broad grimace by a small servo motor and some concealed fishing wire. The helmet addresses the facades of social interaction and explores our responses to affected expressions.
Link (via MAKE: Blog )


Batman creator Bob Kane swipe panel

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 21:33:18 -0500

Mark Frauenfelder: Blogger 1270 3004 1600 Gbia Page 33.1 Blogger 1270 3004 1600 Batman 33 01.1 "Swipes" are comic book panels that were obviously copied from another source, but not credited. They are pretty common. It's a fun pastime for comic book fans to identify swipes. Unlike plagiarism, people don't really think the "swiper" is much of a cheat. I'm not sure why, but I sort of agree with that sentiment. I don't think badly about a comic book artist who swipes occasionally but I do think badly of a writer who copies someone else's writing.

Here's an interesting swipe discovery: Bob Kane, the creator of Batman, swiped an illo from a 1938 issue of a pulp magazine called Gang Busters In Action for the Batman story in Detective Comics #33 (November 1939.) Check out the fingers of Bruce Wayne's right hand. They are green in the panel, but should have been skin colored. Link (Thanks, Eric!)





World's smallest horse is a dwarf miniature

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 22:29:20 -0500

Mark Frauenfelder: 200610101927 Thumbelina is the world's smallest horse. She weighs 60lb and is five years old. She was born on a ranch that specializes in breeding miniature horses. She is thought to have dwarfism, which makes her even tinier. Link








The Curio to End All Curios

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 14:40:00 EDT

What includes Jesus, the space shuttle and two American flags, and is payable in six easy installments? Why, the ultimate collectible, of course. In Table of Malcontents.


Self-assembling gel stops bleeding in seconds -"If this works as well on humans as it does on rats, it's phenomenal"

2006-10-10T08:58:34.004359-05:00

[link][more]



What does a candle flame look like in zero gravity? [pic]

2006-10-10T17:57:41.798787-05:00

[link][more]



A radical idea is sweeping the world of American bicycle manufacturing: building bikes that people will use for actual transportation.

2006-10-10T14:59:21.747248-05:00

[link][more]



'Dilbert's' 9-point financial plan worthy of economics Nobel - MarketWatch

2006-10-10T13:16:50.910820-05:00

[link] [more]



Glassy metals: Harder, stronger, and better — the material of the future

2006-10-10T14:26:15.949959-05:00

[link][more]


Stone Circle (image)

2006-10-10T19:52:59.689499-05:00

[link][more]


A picture is worth a million polygons -- 2D images converted into a 3D environment

2006-10-10T17:24:19.168582-05:00

[link][more]


Outrageously outrageous airport security ad

2006-10-10T16:26:26.420771-05:00

[link][more]


Great French Commercial that will blow your mind

2006-10-10T03:55:33.166598-05:00

[link][more]



-------------------------------
The Web Informant
-------------------------------
The information is harvested from my RSS feeds from:

1)Digg.com2) TechMeme.com 3) EnGadget.com 4) BoingBoing.net5)SlashDot.org 6)Wired.com 7) Kuro5hin.org 8)GoogleSystem.blogspot.com9) TechCrunch.com10)NonGeekSight.blogspot.com 11) Reddit.com 12)SethGodin.typepad.com13)Chris.Pirillo.com 14) InstaPundit.com 15)Scobleizer.wordpress.com16)PhyOrg.com


Read the older posts here: http://blogs.weyak.ae/writer

posted by ORB-UAE - Creative Club @ 8:37 AM, ,




[The Web Informant] Search Engine that finds friends in photos, Information Factories - the Petabyte Age & more
Tuesday, October 10, 2006

The Web Informant
Web Tech & Interesting Information, distilled and filtered for quick consumption for my friends and family


Web Site Allows Searching for Friends in Photos

Mon, 9 Oct 2006 20:50:06 GMT

Polar Rose is a new search engine now being tested that will allow you to find anyone in any photo on any site.


Three new "Get A Mac Ads"

Mon, 9 Oct 2006 21:10:05 GMT

Apple continues their 'get a mac' ad campaign with three new ads today. Self Pity, Counselor, and Better Results...check 'em out!


The Virtually Free Office - 10 Pros and Cons

Mon, 9 Oct 2006 21:10:06 GMT

"In setting up our business we pushed our office online by using a couple of the free tools and services to get started. During our initial months we have used Writely, Google's hosted mail solution, Google Spreadsheet, Google Calendar and Thumbstack presentations in running our company. Here are the experiences we have had"


The Doom of Operating Systems without Internet

Mon, 9 Oct 2006 21:40:02 GMT

Opinion: The set of software that I use on my computer has changed quite a bit over the years. When I first started computing, I remember loading up on any and every application that I could find. Download sites were my obsession, and I could spend hours scouring these file repositories with the ultimate goal of finding great new software.


The Information Factories

Mon, 9 Oct 2006 21:50:02 GMT

The desktop is dead. Welcome to the Internet cloud, where massive facilities across the globe will store all the data you'll ever use. Wired Magazines George Gilder on the dawning of the petabyte age.



13 Must Have Firefox Extensions for Web Professionals

Mon, 9 Oct 2006 21:50:02 GMT

The title says it all. If you are a web professional then these plugins are for you..


Google Quiet: New Google Tool Also Handy for Mischief

Mon, 9 Oct 2006 22:30:07 GMT

Developers' tool can identify vulnerable source code.


Digital Sun

Mon, 9 Oct 2006 23:00:03 GMT

Olle Essvik's Sunclock is a lamp that tracks the sun's movement in the sky and follows it. When the sun rises in the morning the light bulb starts to omit light, intensifying every second, shining brightest in middle of the day.


Cigarette based display system

Mon, 9 Oct 2006 23:30:03 GMT

Artist David Moises created a display made from 35 cigarettes that "burns" simple letters and symbols - Be sure to check more of his work, including the "healed home exercise bike", house on a swing and a hovercraft powered by a leaf blower!


Condoms get high-tech: make love to the sound of cellphone music

Mon, 9 Oct 2006 23:40:02 GMT

A Ukrainian scientist has invented a condom that plays music during sex. A miniature loudspeaker and motion sensor implanted in the condom's upper cuff provides a range of musical tones during sex. Music volume depends on intensity of love-making and tone varies based on the sexual position.


A masked Apple employee begins to blog

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 00:40:08 GMT

The Masked Blogger is an Apple employee who has decided to "join the conversation," while trying not to have the conversation turn to the inevitable topic of his employment being terminated by Apple.


The Future of Social Networks - Communication

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 01:10:02 GMT

"There is another critical aspect of social networking, however, that I have not yet addressed… and it's one that will serve as the anchor component for social networks as they begin to enter their next stage of evolutionary development. The component I'm referring to is the communications layer embedded within social networks."


Turning Portrait Into Stone Statue with Photoshop

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 01:30:03 GMT

This is a simple tutorial on how you can make a statue from a portrait with Photoshop. It is highly recommended if you're using a close up portrait of a woman/man.


Applications of Recursively Defined Data Structures

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 02:40:02 GMT

"A circular program contains a data structure whose definition is self-referential or recursive. The use of such a definition allows efficient functional programs to be written and can avoid repeated evaluations and the creation of intermediate data structures that would have to be garbage collected."


Free Music Videos in Google Video

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 09:08:00 -0500

Google signed agreements with Sony BMG and Warner Music Group and will include a large collection of music videos in Google Video.


Incredible Mouth Band

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 12:03:50 -0500

David Pescovitz: Mouthband Animator David Firth's Incredible Mouth Band video depicts a group of musicians who instead of playing their instruments create a song by saying the names of the instruments.
Link


Switching on selfishness

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 12:42:37 -0500

David Pescovitz: A new study suggests that a small part of the brain called the dorsolateral prefontal cortex (DLPFC) is key to suppressing selfishness. Neuroscientists from the University of Zurich and Harvard Medical School used electricity to temporarily disable that portion in volunteers. Those subjects were happy to screw other people out of money in a behavioral science game called the Ultimatum Game. The researchers published their results in the current issue of the journal Science. From HealthDay:

Link


Art and video from upcoming game, Limbo

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 13:57:55 -0500

Mark Frauenfelder: 200610091056The video trailer and concept art for this upcoming game called Limbo looks cool. Link









Handcarved pop culture totems

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 14:01:39 -0500

Mark Frauenfelder: 200610091101 The artist Ojimbo carved and painted these incredible pop culture totems for the "Monster Mayhem and Day of the Dead Delights" show at Roq la Rue this Friday the 13th. Note the cute cyclops kitty angel in the center totem pole. Link














Residents enjoy living a circle-shaped community

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 15:44:42 -0500

Mark Frauenfelder: Picture 4-11 The Stu says: "I found this community over in the middle east which appears to be based on a large circle. The entire town has taken the shape of a circle, and even the farmland extends like spokes out to each side!" Link


John K's cel-painting kits from the mid-90s

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 16:49:36 -0500

Mark Frauenfelder: 200610091347 200610091349 I had all of John K's wonderful cel-painting and paint-by-number kits. One of them came with a box of cereal that had a prize inside. Here's a "salute to Spumco" with lots of scans and photos of the great merchandise John created. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3







Boody Rogers' weird and wonderful Babe comic book

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 17:19:53 -0500

Mark Frauenfelder: Boody Rogers was a golden age comic book artist whose work was as bizarre as any underground comic that followed decades later. I'm reading his out-of-print autobiography now, Homeless Bound, which is mainly a series of anecdotes about growing up in West Texas. In one chapter, he describes a number of the interesting characters he got to know. Excerpt:
Cimg0141-1"Short Arm" Baxter was yet another strange case. The poor guy was born with short arms, and they didn't grow with his body. You've all heard of the guy who never reached for the check. They say he had short arms and deep pockets -- could never get his money out. Well, "Short Arm" Baxter couldn't reach his pants pockets. He always wore a shirt with a pocket to keep his folding money in. He wore his house key around his neck on a long chain. When he changed a dollar, he'd put the change in his mouth so it wouldn't spill out of his shirt pocket.

One day he was window shopping and a friend walked up behind him and greeted him with a slap on the back. "Short Arm" almost went into convulsions. His friend thought he was choking to death. At last, "Short Arm" got his breath -- and just in time. He was turning purple. "Goddamn it, Burt -- you just made me swallow 98c!"

Pics Babe01-Big Pics Babe18-BigThe kind folks at the Hollywood Animation Archive have scanned a complete Boody Rogers comic for you to enjoy. It's from Vol. 7 of Babe, a L'il Abner Parody / knockoff. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | More Boing Boing coverage of Boody Rogers








Top 10 Web 2.0 Attack Vectors

2006-10-09T19:45:00+00:00

Fred writes, "HNS is running a story about Web 2.0 and the new attack vectors it opens up. Worms of the Yamanner, Samy, and Spaceflash types are exploiting client-side AJAX frameworks, providing new avenues of attack and compromising confidential information. On the server side, XML-based Web services are providing distributed application access through Web services interfaces and opening up new vulnerabilities in the process." The article is spread over 6 short pages and there is no printer-friendly URL.



An engineer, an economist and a marketer...

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 17:35:21 -0400

Eirik has a neat riff: When will a new technology break through?.


Really awesome and amazing staircase (might even be the best ever/evar)

2006-10-09T15:39:31.646878-05:00

[link][more]


(video) The Meissner Effect: A Superconducting Magnet Produces Internal Currents to Cancel an Externally Imposed Magnetic Field. Watch the awesome result...

2006-10-09T21:35:21.589926-05:00

[link][more]


Largest Underground Nuclear Blast Ever (video)

2006-10-09T14:29:26.357395-05:00

[link][more]


Britain becomes 'never, never land' as personal debt runs out of control

2006-10-09T13:07:31.935395-05:00

[link][more]


Mars Rover and tracks (!) seen from orbit

2006-10-09T10:26:35.385977-05:00

[link][more]



-------------------------------
The Web Informant
-------------------------------
The information is harvested from my RSS feeds from:

1)Digg.com 2) TechMeme.com 3) EnGadget.com 4) BoingBoing.net5)SlashDot.org 6) Wired.com 7) Kuro5hin.org 8)GoogleSystem.blogspot.com9) TechCrunch.com 10)NonGeekSight.blogspot.com 11) Reddit.com 12)SethGodin.typepad.com 13)Chris.Pirillo.com 14) InstaPundit.com 15)Scobleizer.wordpress.com 16)PhyOrg.com


Read the older posts here: http://blogs.weyak.ae/writer

posted by ORB-UAE - Creative Club @ 8:48 AM, ,




[The Web Informant] Origami Rubik's Cube, Busting the Megapixe myth and more....
Monday, October 09, 2006

The Web Informant
Web Tech & Interesting Information, distilled and filtered for quick consumption for my friends and family


How to design an Origami Rubik's cube

Sat, 7 Oct 2006 23:50:04 GMT

Step by step on how to design an Origami Rubik's cube.



13 Photo Sizes Compared - Megapixel Chart explains the Megapixel Myth

Sat, 7 Oct 2006 23:40:03 GMT

Eachcolored box represents a certain number of megapixels. The numbersalong the top and left side are print dimensions in inches at 300ppi.The visual version of The Megapixel Myth athttp://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/mpmyth.htm -- "A 3 MP camera prettymuch looks the same as a 6 MP camera, even when blown up to 12 x 18!"



Top 7 questions to ask in an Interview

Sat, 7 Oct 2006 23:00:02 GMT

Thequestions you forget to ask when you are interviewing for a job, butwish you'd asked after taking the job. - by Bruce Eckel (Author of'Thinking in Java').


HOW TO - Make a LED Dot-Matrix display

Sat, 7 Oct 2006 22:40:07 GMT

"Thisis a simple HOW-TO make your own personalised LED Dot-Matrix display. Iwill be adding the complete program with an explaination to light theLEDs with. It's also rather hackable, you can change it to suityourself."


George Lucas discusses online content distribution with Steve Jobs

Sat, 7 Oct 2006 21:10:02 GMT

Lucasmentions he has met with both Steve Jobs and John Lasseter anddiscussed the future of visual media. Lucas' Star Wars: The Clone Wars,Vol.1 and 2 are already available on the iTunes store. Perhaps this isa sign of things to come?


Funky JavaScript - works on all websites (even digg)

Sat, 7 Oct 2006 19:40:03 GMT

Justpaste the JavaScript given in you address bar after visiting anywebsite. Try it now on digg. :) The code is given in the comments aswell.


CheatSheet: Regular Expressions

Sat, 7 Oct 2006 18:40:03 GMT

Great one for quick reference. Take a printout or save this jpg in your desktop.


How To Look Like A UNIX Guru

Sun, 8 Oct 2006 04:30:01 GMT

Thislecture takes you through the basic commands and then shows you how tocombine them in simple patterns or idioms to provide sophisticatedfunctionality like histogramming. This lecture assumes you know what ashell is and that you have some basic familiarity with UNIX.

Make your own Office 2007 style buttons!

Sat, 7 Oct 2006 17:00:03 GMT

As many people may have noticed, Office 2007 Beta has the new, refined, and shiny look to it. I decided to make a button design inspired by it, and I liked it so much that I decided to share how. check it out..


Compilation of Web 2.0 Office Applications for School

Sat, 7 Oct 2006 16:00:03 GMT

Compilation of Web 2.0 Office Applications for students and teachers. The article also compares four popular web-based word processors and asks if Web 2.0 applications are ready for education.


Inside of a Hard Drive

Sat, 7 Oct 2006 16:00:02 GMT

A video of what a Hard Drive looks like inside while doing various tasks.

Finding fresh inspiration

Sat, 7 Oct 2006 14:30:03 GMT

Look at web design these days: Gradients, bursts, big type, rounded corners, pastel colors, and reflections rule the roost. This slavish adherence to Web 2.0 design trends by the "chorus" is resulting in a big snoozefest. ...

Free computer science and engineering books

Sat, 7 Oct 2006 13:50:02 GMT

This site lists free online computer science and engineering books and lecture notes, all of which are freely and legally available over the Internet.


How to install Songbird on your Ubuntu box and then enjoy the music

Sat, 7 Oct 2006 13:00:02 GMT

Songbird is shaping up to be an amazing media player. It's not only got audio and video capability (with a HUGE range of media types) but it's built on the Mozilla engine, meaning it's also a web browser. Not only that, but for a preview release (0.2 people!) it's looking slicker than a puddle of oil with George W. Bush floating in it.


Origami mashup movie on YouTube

Fri, 06 Oct 2006 19:38:15 -0500

Mark Frauenfelder: The folks at CartoonBrew describe an amazing mashup of classic films that was a true labor of love:
200610061637The visuals were achieved by printing out thousands of film frames (over 65,000 to be exact) and folding them into three-dimensional shapes. The paper-objects were then photographed and composited in After Effects.... The film is unlikely to ever find release in the US due to the fact that it uses unlicensed imagery from over 300 live-action features. But don't let that stop you from enjoying it online.










Documentary about videogames and Art: 8 BIT

Fri, 06 Oct 2006 14:47:07 -0500

Xeni Jardin: "8 BIT: A Documentary about Art and Videogames" premieres tomorrow night, Saturday October 7, at the The Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. There will be another screening at MoMA on October 11.

Producer/Co-Director Justin Strawhand tells BoingBoing, "The film includes interviews with an expansive list of video-game based artists and theorists, tied together into a historical overview of the movement, from the demo scene to chiptunes to machinima to artists who hand-code their own video games."

It sounds great. Link to website, screening details, poster art, pix, here's a trailer.







Mosquito trap made from fan and mesh bag

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 21:42:43 -0500

Mark Frauenfelder: The $10 Skeeter Bag attaches to an electric fan and sucks mosquitoes into it all day and night.
200610051840 Testing for Skeeter Bag began in the summer of 2004 at a puppy breeding facility in Central Florida. The facility cares for over 100 adult dogs and as many as 30 puppies at a given moment. Their mosquito problem was out of control. On June 12, 2004 the first trap was set six feet above several dogs on the sleeping porch and by morning it had over 3,500 mosquitoes inside. As the mosquito season picked up as many as 38,000 mosquitoes were caught in a night (estimated by weight 1 gram � 1,000 dried mosquitoes).
Link


Lightning launches photographer into the air

Fri, 06 Oct 2006 11:19:59 -0500

David Pescovitz: The lightning bolt seen in this photo lifted the photograher six feet into the air after he hit the camera's shutter releae button. The image was taken by amateur storm photographer Kane Quinnell of New South Wales, Australia. Lacking a tripod, he had set his camera on the hood of his car and set it for a four-second exposure. The fourth time he hit the button, this bolt struck twenty yards away. From the Daily Mail:
Lightning Mr Quinnell, an IT technician, said that as a small boy he was frightened by thunderstorms.

"I grew up and got over the fear factor and started to really enjoy the light shows," he said.

Now armed with a tripod, he hopes to continue with his new hobby.

"I am just waiting for some rain. There haven't been may storms lately."
Link (via Fortean Times )

Mapping Interior Spaces With Robots And GIS

2006-10-07T18:28:00+00:00

Roland Piquepaille writes "In an article about GIS and Robotics, Directions Magazine reports that architects and other professionals can now use spatially intelligent robots to collect interior space data. With such mapping robots, it's possible to capture accurate data for over 10,000 square meters per day and to easily integrate it with existing software. The article doesn't mention the sources for its illustrations about these robotic systems, so I thought I'd point them out: a company in Maine called Penobscot Bay Media. You'll find more details and pictures about these mapping robots at ZDNet."


Survey of Super Massive Black Holes Completed

2006-10-08T06:44:00+00:00

eldavojohn writes "NASA has announced the completion of a survey of nearby supermassive black holes. Every galaxy that revolves around a supermassive black hole within 400 light-years of our own galaxy has been cataloged. From the article: 'Called active galactic nuclei, or AGN, these black holes have masses of up to billions of Suns compressed into a region about the size of our solar system. The all-sky census, performed using NASA's Swift satellite over a nine-month period, detected more than 200 nearby AGN.' I'm starting to feel very lucky to have grown up in the Milky Way Galaxy."

Making Water From Thin Air

Fri, 6 Oct 2006 02:00:00 EDT

Supplying troops with potable water is a logistical nightmare in the parched Iraqi desert. But a new technology that creates water literally from air might solve the problem, and save billions of dollars in the process. By Audrey Hudson.


The Sweet Sound of Lapsed Time

Wed, 4 Oct 2006 02:00:00 EDT

Ever wish you could traverse 42 years of pop music history in 37 minutes? R. Luke DuBois' new CD employs "time lapse phonography" to reduce hit songs to a string of tiny, amorphous sound clips that highlight big shifts in musical taste. By Alexander Gelfand.



How did we live without it

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 13:35:16 -0400

Dvdrewinder Alin points us to the DVD Rewinder.

Think of the time you'll save. I bet the guys at YouTube need a bunch of these, so they can rewind all those clips people watch o








Search By Salary

Sat, 07 Oct 2006 10:23:19 -0500

Our portfolio company Indeed has done something pretty neat. They've culled salary data from millions of current job listings and made it searchable. Of course, the obvious thing to do with this is look for jobs that pay what you want to make.


1980's Solid State Hard Drive - Biological Storage Device!

Sun, 8 Oct 2006 18:10:02 GMT

A 100 Gigabyte Solid state storage device from the 1980's, it works using green and red lasers to store and read the data. As explained in the video, the problem they had is that in the process of reading the information it also destroys the information.


9 JavaScript Tips You May Not Know

2006-10-08T14:43:22.384704-05:00

[link] [more]


amazing magic trick: cups & balls... with... transparent cups, by Penn & Teller

2006-10-08T20:05:39.635374-05:00

[link] [more]


Installing and Testing WordPress Locally Under Windows

2006-10-08T22:24:25.603410-05:00

[link] [more]


History of Submarine Design

2006-10-08T18:55:23.193739-05:00

[link] [more]



Indie booksellers in the age of the Internet

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 22:58:12 -0500

Cory Doctorow: Interesting AP story about how indie bookstores are faring in the age of the Internet; I worked for indie bookstores in the late 80s and early 90s and love to patronize them, love the knowledgeable clerks, quirky shelf-reviews, lovingly curated recommendation sections. The business model is plainly, books for people who love books -- not "sell the end-caps for this week's extruded blockbuster product."

http://www.wired.com/news/wireservice/1,71924-0.html


Homebrew mechanical steampunk lion from Brussels

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 22:40:46 -0500

Cory Doctorow: This mechanical, rideable steampunk lion was a hobby project for a metalworker in Belgium:

http://bbs.dragonslanding.com/viewtopic.php?t=1539


Hallowe'en papercraft projects

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 09:36:00 -0500

Cory Doctorow: Paper Forest, the excellent papercraft blog, has done a roundup post of foldable art for Hallowe'en, everything from a witch pop-up to a Tower of Terror model to a bunch of Hallowe'en origami. Link



















-------------------------------
The Web Informant
-------------------------------
The information is harvested from my RSS feeds from:

1)Digg.com 2) TechMeme.com 3) EnGadget.com 4) BoingBoing.net 5)SlashDot.org 6) Wired.com 7) Kuro5hin.org 8) GoogleSystem.blogspot.com9) TechCrunch.com 10) NonGeekSight.blogspot.com 11) Reddit.com 12)SethGodin.typepad.com 13) Chris.Pirillo.com 14) InstaPundit.com 15)Scobleizer.wordpress.com 16) PhyOrg.com


Read the older posts here: http://blogs.weyak.ae/writer


posted by ORB-UAE - Creative Club @ 8:30 AM, ,




[The Web Informant] Build a Home Robot, Jet Engine & Teleportation is Here
Saturday, October 07, 2006

The Web Informant
-----------------------------
Web Tech & Interesting Information, distilled and filtered for quick consumption for my friends and family

5th OCtober 2006



The Finkbuilt drawbot

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 18:57:22 -0500

Mark Frauenfelder: Static Images Articles Drawbot Theovertalented Steve Lodefink made a drawing robot for his kids out of apaper cup, a toy motor, a battery, felt pens, and duct tape. The videoof the drawbot in action is a joy to behold. Link









http://www.finkbuilt.com/blog/kids-art-bot/



How to recognize a stroke quickly

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 17:26:07 -0500

Mark Frauenfelder:Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools has been publishing short "Tips" newslettersand they're wonderful. Tips 18 has a simple camera steadier, a way tohide computer cables, how to repair clothes with clear silicone rubbercaulk, and this method for diagnosing a stroke:
A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victimquickly he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke. He said thetrick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed and getting to thepatient within 3 hours, which is tough. Sometimes symptoms of a strokeare difficult to identify. But doctors say a bystander can recognize astroke by asking three simple questions:
  1. Ask the individual to SMILE.
  2. Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
  3. Ask the person to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently, ie: It is sunny out today)

If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

-- Passed along by Michael Hawley


Church where you can walk on water

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 16:27:11 -0500

David Pescovitz:Artist Michael Grossflooded a London church-turned-gallery with water. The "lake" hides asystem of mechanically-moving steps that enable visitors to walk onwater. The installation, titled Bridge, is up until October 29 atDilston Grove. From the gallery's description:
Images BridgeEachstep emerges one step in front of you and disappears back underneathbehind you as you go. This 'bridge' is purely mechanical, the weight ofthe person on it depresses each step a little, this force activates asubmerged mechanism which raises the next step.

The public are invited to walk out on it as if walking onwater, eventually reaching the middle of the lake, thirty steps andtwelve meters from the shore. There they will stand alone and detached,stranded in the middle of a plane of water until they choose to returnthe way they came. For some people this experience of being cut off andsurrounded by water will be peaceful, for others terrifying. For somewalking across the water will be pure childish joy, whilst others willbe too scared to try.
Link (Thanks, Mike Love!)


Google Code Search

(For Techies :-)

Google Code Searchis a new search engine created by Google that "helps you find functiondefinitions and sample code by giving you one place to search publiclyaccessible source code hosted on the Internet". You can restrict yoursearch to a certain language, license, file or package. You can alsouse regular expressions, so don't forget to escape characters likespace (for example, for\ \(;;\) ).

Google does a good job at finding duplicates, and locating a file in a package.

Related:
Krugle, search open source code


How to Make Your Own Jet Engine

Thu, 5 Oct 2006 12:50:05 GMT

A step by step guide to making your own jet-engine from a car turbo-charger. Please be careful...

http://www.instructables.com/id/EEA99AAUR3EP28744T/


Quotes for Techs and Programmers

Thu, 5 Oct 2006 04:30:03 GMT

Allparts should go together without forcing. You must remember that theparts you are reassembling were disassembled by you. Therefore, if youcan't get them together again, there must be a reason. By all means, donot use a hammer. (1925 IBM Maintenence Manual)

http://www.sysprog.net/quotes.html

Coolest way to light your house.

Thu, 5 Oct 2006 00:30:04 GMT

HybridSolar Lighting is a technology that can light houses with natural solarlight. It captures solar light and channels it directly into the roomsusing optical fibers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ5MiLqb5VE&eurl=


Google launches literacy project to link resources

Thu, 5 Oct 2006 07:30:03 GMT

GoogleInc. unveiled on Wednesday a Web site dedicated to literacy, pullingtogether its books, video, mapping and blogging services to helpteachers and educational organizations share reading resources.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061004/wr_nm/media_google_literacy_dc


Will Powerset Pull a Google?

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 07:48:59 +0000

I haven't seen a demo of upcoming search engine Powerset yet, but reportedly many people who have are impressed, saying they'd never use Google again



http://www.powerset.com/



Awesomest sketching program EVER

2006-10-04T19:28:17.066223-05:00

[link] [more]


Scientists teleport two different objects

2006-10-04T20:20:52.493981-05:00

http://zoomquilt.tobina.de/zoom.htm


Dirty Dozen IT Embarrassments

aaaz submitted by aaaz21 hours 6 minutes ago(via www.eweek.com )

They're not all "bugs," because some of them were intentional actsand others were the results of short-sighted design, but each of theseincidents has a lesson to teach.

http://www.eweek.com/slideshow_viewer/0,1205,l=&s=700&a=190182&po=1,00.asp


20 FireFox Extensions For Web Designer

Thu, 5 Oct 2006 15:50:03 GMT

Here's a list of 20 useful FireFox extensions that all web designers should know about.

http://cyber-knowledge.net/blog/2006/10/05/20-firefox-extensions-that-every-web-designer-should-know-about/


FOSSILS OF GIANT SEA REPTILES FOUND IN ARCTIC, October 05
Norwegian researchers have found a wealth of fossils in the Arctic from giant reptiles that swam the seas at the same time as dinosaurs, including a rare predator described as the "Tyrannosaurus Rex of the oceans", a member of the research team said Thursday.
Full story at http://www.physorg.com/news79269368.html



EMOTIONALLY AMBIVALENT WORKERS ARE MORE CREATIVE, INNOVATIVE, October 05
People who experience emotional ambivalence -- simultaneously feeling positive and negative emotions -- are more creative than those who feel just happy or sad, or lack emotion at all, according to a new study.
Full story at http://www.physorg.com/news79282288.html


SERVICE TAPS COMMUNITY TO ID MAIL SCAMS, October 05
(AP) -- A new service for fighting e-mail fraud seeks to tap the wisdom of the Internet community: Anyone will be able to submit suspected scams for others to vote up or down.
Full story at http://www.physorg.com/news79292065.html



REVIEW: WRITELY MOSTLY HITS THE MARK, October 05
As a reporter, I'm never sure when the muse will strike or an editor will call. That's why I send copious notes and drafts of stories to myself by e-mail. As long as I'm within range of a computer with an Internet connection, I know I'll be able to tweak the latest version or do a quick fact check.
Full story at http://www.physorg.com/news79291952.html


PROBING QUESTION: IS CAFFEINE HARMFUL TO YOUR HEALTH?, October 05
A steaming cup of black coffee in the morning is to many people what gasoline is to their cars: essential fuel. The active ingredient in that fuel? Caffeine, a central-nervous-system stimulant found in the leaves and beans of many plants, especially those of coffee and tea.
Full story at http://www.physorg.com/news79288297.html

PART OF HUMAN BRAIN FUNCTIONS LIKE A DIGITAL COMPUTER, PROFESSOR SAYS, October 05
A region of the human brain that scientists believe is critical to human intellectual abilities surprisingly functions much like a digital computer, according to psychology Professor Randall O'Reilly of the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Full story at http://www.physorg.com/news79289076.html




-------------------------------
The Web Informant
-------------------------------
The information is harvested from my RSS feeds from:

1)Digg.com 2) TechMeme.com 3) EnGadget.com 4) BoingBoing.net 5)SlashDot.org 6) Wired.com 7) Kuro5hin.org 8) GoogleSystem.blogspot.com9) TechCrunch.com 10) NonGeekSight.blogspot.com 11) Reddit.com 12)SethGodin.typepad.com 13) Chris.Pirillo.com 14) InstaPundit.com 15)Scobleizer.wordpress.com 16) PhyOrg.com


Read the older posts here: http://blogs.weyak.ae/writer


--
Umesh Ponnusamy
Channel Editor-Development
eCompany-Etisalat
Extn: 5554
Mob: 8818 234

posted by ORB-UAE - Creative Club @ 1:28 PM, ,




[UAE WEB OF LIFE-Issue 7] Interviews - EmiratesMac & Writers Block
Friday, October 06, 2006

UAE WEB OF LIFE
-------------------------------
The Internet Magazine on what's happening in the local UAE Web community.
http://UaeWebOfLife.wordpress.com


ISSUE 7


CONTENTS

I. NEWS

2. CUB (Cool UAE Blog) Awards

3. BUG (Best UAe-Group) Awards

3. INTERVIEW - a) Emirates Mac b) Writers Block

Previous Interviews

Past Issues

Free UAE Web Guide - Download



I. NEWS


1) Mum's web site goes global

"....The new Jumeirah is Mirdif. Now, from the aviation fuel-scented exurb comes DuFam (www.dufam.com) – the expansion of the Mirdif Mums to all Dubai..."

Full story



2) UAE's junior expats get new web site

"...But the squad behind www.expatbrats.com includes Nikki's two brothers and her mother, Audrey. As the site progresses, they are also aiming to build a network of young writers across the UAE.

Full Story



3) Excellent response to online services of Dubai Police

"....The number of visitors to Dubai Police website (www.dubaipolice.gov.ae) stood at 2475, 187 over the last three years, he said and attributed the remarkable response to the easy access to the site to get the services and information that concern large segments of the society....."

Read full article.


4) Apply online for jobs at Abu Dhabi Police

ABU DHABI — Job-seekers at
the Abu Dhabi Police can now log onto the Internet or call a tollfree
number to get first hand information about the administrative
procedures without the need to go personally to the Directorate General
of Human Resources. (www.adpolice-hr.com) tollfree phone number (8008999) during work hours.

Read full article.


5) Cost effective and eco-friendly fuel will be available from next month

ABU DHABI — From October 8, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company for Distribution (Adnoc Distribution)
will introduce another cost-effective and environment-friendly fuel, which will save Dh1 and 50 fils per gallon on super and special brands. A special website has been launched containing relevant information about the new product explaining its features and functions www.adnoc-dist.ae. In coordination with car dealers in the country, a
list of vehicles which can use E-plus is available on the website.

Read full article.


6) Suggestions to improve local transport will fetch rewards

"RTA will welcome suggestions through the website (www.rta.ae) by email and through a prescribed template which can be filled and handed over personally at the RTA office. Other alternatives to register suggestions include calling the authority or its call centre on 8009090."

Read full article.


7) Want to use Skype in Dubai? Just say HeyU

Customers can go to a UK-based website, Mathaba.net, and get an email address for HeyU, which
bills itself as an "Asian group." HeyU appears to have no website of its own.

Read full article.


8) Weyak brings web portal to mobiles

http://www.weyak.ae

Read full article.


9) UAE Video Site

A commercial Internet site in Dubai with video stories as part of a video class bridging the gap between classroom theories and actual experience with the local media. The video stories, which the students produce for the Eye of Dubai website, are about one minute in length and focus on life and lifestyles in and around Dubai.

 http://www.eyeofdubai.com/en/news/videonews/


(Source: DubaiForums.com)



II. CUB (COOL UAE BLOG) AWARDS

Winners this issue:

Recognition of their  Constant Creative Cyber Communion

1) Dani - a filipino teenager in Dubai whose expression and blogging is the envy of many a senior
2) Designer Woke - Advertising professional in Dubai - well written blog entries on Dubai etc.
3) Dot1ne - Web Technophile and Podcaster Saleh
4) Farrukh - Advertising Copywriter, Journalist
4) Prometheus - spontaneous and witty...has won him many fans.




IV. BUG - BEST UAEe-Group Awards

Recognition of useful online community service

1) Emirates Mac - http://www.EmiratesMac.com

2) Writer's Block - http://WritersBlockUae.blogspot.com


V. INTERVIEW - EmiratesMac & Writers Block


a) Writers Block


b) Emirates Mac



Previous Interviews

Past Issues

Free UAE Web Guide - Download


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2006 UAE WEB OF LIFE - http://uaeweboflife.wordpress.com

posted by ORB-UAE - Creative Club @ 4:41 PM, ,




[The Web Informant 4] Galaxy Images, Free Software mag & more
Thursday, October 05, 2006

The Web Informant
Web Tech & Interesting Information, distilled and filtered for quick consumption for my friends and family


LARGEST 3D MAP OF GALAXIES
A team of American, Australian and British astronomers has released maps
from the largest full-sky, three-dimensional survey of galaxies ever
conducted.
Full story at http://www.physorg.com/news79094343.html



FORGET THE BIG BANG -- IT'S MORE A DEEP HUM (Link to sound file in article)
The Big Bang that gave birth to the Universe sounded less like the mother
of all explosions than a jumbo jet flying over your house, a US
physicist believes.
Full story at http://www.physorg.com/news79099808.html



3) CALIF. REDWOOD CONFIRMED AS TALLEST TREE
(AP)
-- Researchers have confirmed that a redwood named Hyperion in a remote
Northern California forest is the world's tallest tree.
Full story at http://www.physorg.com/news79027916.html



 4) WEB JOURNALS THREATEN PEER-REVIEW SYSTEM
(AP)
-- Scientists frustrated by the iron grip that academic journals hold
over their research can now pursue another path to fame by taking their
research straight to the public online.
Full story at http://www.physorg.com/news79029092.html



ROBOTS QUICK-STEP HUMANS INTO THE FUTURE AT US EXHIBITION,
Robots are ready to take over from the army of workers who do not have time to
prepare their daily meals. They could also teach you ballroom dancing.
Full story at http://www.physorg.com/news78825281.html



RICE'S SINGLE-PIXEL CAMERA TAKES HIGH-RES IMAGES
For all their ease and convenience, there are few things more wasteful than
digital cameras. They're loaded with pricy microprocessors that chew
through batteries at a breakneck pace, crunching millions of numbers
per second in order to throw out up to 99 percent of the information
flowing through the lens.
Full story at http://www.physorg.com/news79019816.html



GOOGLE BUYS GARAGE WHERE COMPANY WAS LAUNCHED
 Google said on Monday that it bought the Silicon Valley garage where the Internet search colossus was born.
Full story at http://www.physorg.com/news79028306.html


Make a WordPress Theme In Minutes

Wed, 4 Oct 2006 03:50:03 GMT

A good friend of mine Joe Kaplan just launched ThemesPress.com which is a
site to turn any standard HTML template or design into a fully
functional WordPress Theme in minutes.
The best part, it's all automatic, so people with little to no PHP or
HTML skills can make a WordPress theme from any design they have or
purchased from a design site.


Top Ten Geek Wallets

Tue, 3 Oct 2006 23:50:02 GMT

Get rid of that George Costanza wallet, check out this list of the Top Ten Geek Wallets

http://www.productdose.com/article.php?article_id=4534

Now chat with Digg users!

Wed, 4 Oct 2006 00:10:02 GMT

Chat with anyone on Digg.com now, from Digg's site.
Woohoo. Better yet, do it with anysite.

Issue 14 of Free Software Magazine released

Tue, 3 Oct 2006 21:00:02 GMT

Another
bunch of free articles about free software are available to read on
line or download in PDF for free from the Free Software Magazine crew.
That's a lot of "free"s...
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/issues/issue_014

Now You Can Have Google Gadgets on Your Webpage

Google Gadgets for your webpage can help make a site dynamic andrich with content.  Google Gadgets, which have long been available forusers to add to the Google homepage and Google Desktop, are nowavailable for webpage owners to add to their own webpages.

Source: Google
Link: http://www.google.com/press/annc/synd_gadgets.html

Calculating the ROI of blogging

One issue that keeps coming up over and over again is how to measurethe ROI of blogs.  I've written about this in the past and have beenstewing over how to go beyond the intangible "blogging is good for yourbusiness" exhortations to quantify blogging's benefit to organizations.

Source: Charlene Li's Blog
Author: Charlene Li
Link: http://blogs.forrester.com/charleneli/2006/10…


GM developing home-based hydrogen filling station

If you're tired of waiting for your neighborhood gas station to bust out a hydrogen pump for filling up your fuel cell vehicle that you bought on the black market, have no fear. GM is prepping a hydrogen refueling station that can be set up in your home, and is powered off of electricity or sunlight.

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2006/10/03/gm-developing-home-based-hydrogen-refueling-station/


Sterile face-masks with printed animal faces

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 09:58:31 -0500

Cory Doctorow: These "Get Well Soon Masks" are sterile masks intended to evince asmile from sick people -- less creepy and mouthless than thetraditional mime-white version.Link(Thanks, Spluch!)














-------------------------------
The Web Informant
-------------------------------

The information is harvested from my RSS feeds from:

1) Digg.com2) TechMeme.com 3) EnGadget.com 4) BoingBoing.net 5) SlashDot.org 6)Wired.com 7) Kuro5hin.org 8) GoogleSystem.blogspot.com 9)TechCrunch.com 10) NonGeekSight.blogspot.com 11) Reddit.com 12)SethGodin.typepad.com 13) Chris.Pirillo.com 14) InstaPundit.com 15)Scobleizer.wordpress.com 16) PhyOrg.com

Read the older posts here: http://blogs.weyak.ae/writer

posted by ORB-UAE - Creative Club @ 8:14 PM, ,