Living in the Information Age

Reverse Image Search

2006-05-03T18:32:00.000-07:00

I don't know who this woman is. I have her picture. I am sure other people know her name. How can the internets help me?

Currently reverse image searching is very weak. Retrievr tries, but either the algorithm isn't powerful enough or its image library is too small (most likely both).

This problem has no solution yet. If you know who this person is, please respond.

Come again?

2006-04-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

Are you a pre-teen, teenager, or young adult and having problems staying fresh with the lingo? Are you a parent and not understanding the words coming out of your offspring's mouth? Keeping reading...

Ok, so this is nothing new or anything, but I finally submitted my own entry to the Urban Dictionary. It is currently seeking aprroval.

What 's the word you ask?

dorothy

What's the definition you ask?

Wait till its approved and look it up, then start coining your own terms.

deviantArt Worth Noting

2006-04-06T19:29:00.000-07:00

deviantArt is a website for visitors to upload their own pieces of computer art. Whether it be photography or photoshopography, deviantArt will surely have something that will strike your eye. The picture to your right, submitted by BeBz, is my current desktop wallpaper.

Welcome to Brackenwood!

2006-03-20T18:51:00.000-08:00

We hope you enjoy your stay in Brackenwood. Population: Bitey, a bald big-foot, and a few others. Please enjoy these wonderful flash videos by Adam Phillips.

I'm not sure if this is true, but I have heard this landed him a job a Disney. These are by far the best flash animations I have seen. You can truely see his improvement over time.

Wanna Draw on a Ball?

2006-02-28T17:30:00.000-08:00

Let your creativity roam on DrawBall.com. Do you agree with their license agreement? Make sure you let them know if you do. After that you have a certain amount of "ink" to barely leave a mark on their canvas. It looks like the Korean flag is under attack by the Pepsi logo. Have fun.

MMOG PONG!

2006-02-27T13:55:00.000-08:00

Yes, that's right, the classic paddle and ball game is now massivly multiplayer and online. When you go to the site, you are automatically assigned to the left or right team depending on how many people are already assigned on each team. The average mouse position for each player on a team determines where the paddle will be placed.

Microsoft makes Digital Divide a 8-Layer Cake

2006-02-22T13:09:00.000-08:00

I know, I have gotten a little behind. Even this topic is a bit aged. Microsoft has sense removed the article and denied that this will go into affect, but I want to throw it at you anyway...

Some sources are reporting that there will be atleast 8 versions of Window Vista, well depending on how you look at it. There are 2 versions that will only be in Europe because of antitrust rulings and one that is basically for developing countries with less than compatible hardware.

The other 5 have varying features, comparable to XP Home and Pro, but divided even more.

Motorola RAZR V3X Holds Back Its Potential Power

2006-02-14T20:03:00.000-08:00

There currently is a online petition aimed at the Motorola Corporation to release a firmware update for "complete implimentation of hardware accelaration." According the petition, the RAZR has a nVidia Goforce 3D 4800 WMP graphics piece. That is currently the most powerful graphic enhancement in any current generation phone, but is not being put to use on java games on the phone, or any other type of game. I imagine this is due to the battery consumption that would result, but I feel that a switch could be put in place to turn the accelaration on and off.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see someone release their own firmware.

McVideogame: Would you like mad cow disease with that?

2006-02-12T10:58:00.000-08:00

I have recently stumbled across a very interesting game at this website, McVideogame.com. This game is not sponsored or endorsed by McDonald's Corporation. The game is similar to The Sims in some respect because you simulate running the McDonald's industry, from the farms to franchise, to the corporate offices.

Very fun stuff here. Not sure what McDonalds is going to do about it though. I find it interesting how someone can express political views through funny video games.

Adium is the Quack

2006-02-11T11:45:00.000-08:00

If you are a Mac user and instant messenger user and not using Adium X, I don't think I like you. Adium is the most customizable, easy to use instant messagenger client available. I am jealous that there is nothing comparable for Windows.

I recently stumbled upon 2 great Adium Xtras worth checking out. The first being an emoticon set known as phpBB 2 a favorite among many visitors of Repsoldcom . The second is the one featured in the picture to your right, Indiana Hoosier Adiumy. I am hoping this will soon be available in all the standard Adiumy colors.

I chose to display the offline picture of Adiumy because the Hoosiers looked tired in both their away and home games against Iowa .

If Computer A Can Run Windows Vista, Computer B Won't

2006-02-10T18:36:00.000-08:00

According to an article on ExtremeTech.com, One in two PCs won't have the power to run Windows Vista. Due to Windows Vista's "Aero Glass" technique, half of the computer is households today won't have graphics cards that process greaphics quit enough for the OS. This means that most likely, computer sales and graphic cards sales will go up dramatically when Microsoft unvails its latest, most likely Fall '06.

Don't Drink and Squat

2006-02-09T21:52:00.000-08:00

According to an article theNewsPaper.com, a man in New Jersey received a DUI while riding a pocket bike.

From the article, "New Jersey Superior Court Judge Ernest Caposela sentenced a man to six months in prison, $1000 fine and a 10-year license suspension for the crime of riding a 20 MPH pocket bike under the influence of alcohol. George Kaiser, 42, had purchased the $150, three-foot-long mini-motorcycle as a toy for his 13-year-old nephew."

Apparently these pocket bikes ride right around a foot above the ground and are not street legal in the US. I have only seen sales for these on Ebay from Canada. The ones I have seen do not ship to the US.

Not exactly tech news here, but I saw a guy riding one of these around by the Auditorium. It looked fun and he got alot of looks. Significantly loud and fast, guessing around 45mph. He did not appear intoxicated.

Songbird Wants to Fight iTunes

2006-02-08T17:00:00.000-08:00

Rob Lord released a preview version of his newest media player called Songbird. It's user interface is very similar to iTunes, but doesn't have the iTunes Music Store or iPod support. It does include many other music download stores like Connect (freakin' Internet Explorer only) and Amazon.

In my opinion, its too new and beta'ish to be useful for the average iTunes user. The color scheme and music stores have potential. It appears to have its own web browser built in-potentially highjackable. It unfortunate that iPods don't work in it either.

P.S. What software titles the OK button "Okay"?

We Are TiVo's Younger Sibling

2006-02-07T16:35:00.000-08:00

According to an article from Yahoo! Finance, Superbowl watchers enjoyed the game just as much, if not more than than the commericals.

From the article, "Every year TiVo has analyzed how viewers utilize the replay and rewind features, it has been the commercials that viewers most often watched again rather than the action on the field."

It is not the fact that viewers most often watch Super Bowl commercials over the game that comes as a shock to me. I was just not aware that Tivo knows when you are replaying, pausing, recording, etc. The article does say that no personal information is gathered when collecting that data, but I am sure many people like myself assumed their Tivo habits were private.

Are You The Man Now Dog?

2006-02-06T13:46:00.000-08:00

YTHMND.com is a site designed for comedic purposes. Its is like a blog site, in the sense, you can create your own ythmnd. They consist of a .gif file and looped sound file. One of my favorites is this one.

The internet allows for new forms of creativity. This is just one of many outlets for someone to express themself online.

The Time for Cyber Stormism is Now

2006-02-05T12:19:00.000-08:00

According to an article from Federal Computing Week, The Department of Homeland Security start Cyber Storm, a national exercise that will test federal and private-sector readiness for cyberattacks.

From the article, "Cyber Storm is a federally mandated and funded exercise to 'see how cyberattacks against critical infrastructure might play out and how people react to them,' Algeier said."

Not a bad idea, I guess. Have the fed makes viruses, give it to businesses and see how they react. How will they determine which companies and government agencies are up to par? At what point should the goverment step in and help a company that has been infected?

Steve Wants to Know Why American Games Suck in Japan

2006-02-04T16:00:00.000-08:00

GamingSteve wanted to know why games made in America sell poorly in Japan. So he did some research, posted his results, and came up with many, many reasons for why Japanese players generally play Japanese games.

He wanted to know why Japanese games sell better in the US than American games in Japan. Some of his reasons are that it is difficult to find a Japanese publisher to back an American game. Another reason is that Japanese games that make it to America are the games that sell the best in Japan. Plus, those games are then translated and taylored well to fit with the American culture, which is not the case for American games sold in Japan.

Music Video + Young Spielberg + Bad Atari Game = Intriguing

2006-02-03T11:08:00.000-08:00

A Band called Wintergreen has released a music video directed by Keith Schofield to there song called, "When I Wake Up". The video features the members of the band playing a classic Atari 2600 game, E.T. which was was so terrible that the makers of the game thought it would be a good idea to bury the unsold copies in a landfill.

The video shows a little bit of the story behind the game and their adventure finding the buried copies. This is an example of how many types of medias are comming together. A TV music video that tells the story of a legacy video game is available to anyone online. Props to Mr. Schofield and Wintergreen. I enjoyed the piece.

Why You Don't Want A Pigeon Over Your Head, Part II

2006-02-02T16:22:00.000-08:00

No, there really isn't a Part I, but I think you can guess what that reason would be.

According to an article from Yahoo! News, pigeons are being used to test air pollution. In August, 20 pigeons will carry a cellphone backpack with a basic phone, a GPS satellite tracking receiver, and air pollution sensors.

From the article, "Text messages on air quality will be beamed back in real time to a special pigeon "blog," a journal accessible on the Internet."

Why pigeons will be blogging information on air polution boggles my mind, but it proves information can pretty much be anywhere, even with the birds.

Introducing the BioKnob

2006-02-01T19:33:00.000-08:00

Tychi Systems is currently developing a door knob that only lets you enter once it identifies yourself by your fingerprints. They call it, the BioKnob. I personally thing the name is pretty bad ass, but who is going to want or need this?

This product has the potential of recording a log of every person who walks through a particular door. I could definitely see this type of product being used in places of high security, but it has to be hacker proof. Is it more secure than a normal key?

Xbox 360 Update Removes Demo Disk Use

2006-01-31T14:48:00.000-08:00

According to Joystiq.com, the Xbox 360 dashboard update that was released today no longer allows the use of the demo disk that hackers used to run their own flash programs on the Xbox 360.

Now the score is tied. The hackers found a glitch to run their own code, and Microsoft took it away. There wasn't really anything else that is big enough to talk about that the update did. But things to look out for...

Xbox Live Advertisements and 360 camera.

Vista Come No Anti-Virus

2006-01-30T14:27:00.000-08:00

According to an article from TheRegister.co.uk, Microsoft will not include any anti-virus software on their newest version of Windows in development, Vista. Microsoft claims that Windows Vista will be more secure than Windows XP, but how can that be without Antivirus prepackaged.

From the article, "Symantec, though its assisted enquiries from investigators, has said it would rather take on Microsoft in the marketplace than cry foul to regulators over Microsoft's entry into the consumer anti-virus marketplace."

This topic is like reopening the browser-war can of warms. Microsoft wouldn't want to package too much in the OS at the risk of being callled a monopoly again. In 2006, it is necessary to have antivirus software to maintain a secure computer. I don't see how they can claim to be secure without it.

Mexico Barters Guns for Computers

2006-01-28T12:28:00.000-08:00

According to an article from Yahoo News, Mexico City officials will give away a total of 150 brand new donated computers to individuals willing to trade in a firearm.

Guadalupe Lopez, a local head for the central district of Alvaro, Obregon, said, "People often have a gun at home, which could perhaps be for self-defense, but sadly it becomes a family tragedy when it is not used properly."

So why not trade it in for a computer. This is a great idea. Your aren't just bardering item for item here. You are exchanging violence for education, but what would are great, great grandfather's think? 'Your telling me, you want to give me that colored box thing for my rifle?'

Bill's Got Google's Back

2006-01-27T18:07:00.001-08:00

According to Times Online, Bill Gates defends Google's position in censoring their searches in China at the World Economic Forum. Recently Google agreed to China's internet restrictions and Bill Gates explains why that was a good choice.

"I do think information flow is happening in China ... saying that even by existing there contributions to a national dialogue have taken place. There’s no doubt in my mind that’s been a huge plus."

I don't even know what that means, but Bill said it.
The article also points out, "China’s internet population, already the world’s second largest after the United States, rose to 111 million in 2005, according to the official China Internet Network Information Centre."

I agree that comming to an agreement with China was a good thing. Google needs to be available to everyone, but what makes China so special? Why do they need special internet restrictions?

Fake Dogs Just as Good

2006-01-26T15:00:00.000-08:00

An article at PCMagazine.com states that a study at Purdue University found that Robo-pets are just as good at lowering stress levels as real pets. The experiement included the Sony Aibo robot dog.

The article says, "Researchers studied children aged between seven and 15 who had a Sony Aibo robot dog in parallel with other children who owned a living pet. Over 70 per cent of the robo-pet owners said that the machines 'could be a good companion'."

What I don't understand is how they came up with that conclusion. Just because kids ages 7 t0 15 say they are a good companion doesn't mean they would rather have a puppy and be happier. I wonder what would happen if they studied actual pet owners.

This study isn't completely useless though. In the future when these Robo pets become even more life-like, they surely will bring even more companionship.

Apple Introduces iTunes U

2006-01-25T11:35:00.000-08:00

Now universities can upload lectures, interviews, and debates right into iTunes with iTunes U so students, faculty, or staff can just download the content from anywhere. You need to authenticate proving that you are affiliated with the school. Currently Stanford is the only university available, but there soon will be more.

How much will Apple cram into iTunes? There is hardly a seperation now between school and leisure. Do students really want to combine their music with their studies?

Clickers Forced Out of Closet

2006-01-24T14:29:00.000-08:00

IMChaos.net has a service called Link Spy that lets an AIM user track who clicks on links in their profile and know when they are clicked.

This lets you know if someone is checking your profile pictures that you don't know about. If you are the one who is clicking the link though, you will know you have been caught if you check the link before you click. The link will first take you to a page at IMChaos.net, then redirect you to where the link is supposed to go.

There currently is no way to tell if you have a Facebook stalker, but with this AIM tool, it won't be too hard to know if you have one on AIM.

IE7 leaked?!

2006-01-23T15:52:00.000-08:00

According to an article from PCPro.co.uk, the latest version of Microsoft's web browser, Internet Explorer 7. This version was not intended for Windows XP, but for Microsoft unreleased Operating System, Windows Vista.

From the article, "The screenshots certainly seem to show off the many new features expected of IE 7, with items such as tabbed browsing clearly visible. Likewise a number of the under-the-bonnet changes are also shown on some screenshots, such as the ability to delete browsing history."

It seems as though Microsoft has to keep up with Mozilla Firefox now with tabbed browsing, although Microsoft's security and management product manager Ben English has been noted for saying that features such as tabbed browsing are not important to IE users (ZDNet News).

Since when does Microsoft know what its users want?

Playstation Chainsaw Massacre

2006-01-22T10:27:00.000-08:00

Play-Asia.com is selling a chainsaw controller for Resident Evil 4 on Playstation 2. I just hope some kid doesn't go grab daddy's chainsaw and go hunting for zombies or the possesed, because they will soon discover the real thing won't necessarily be as "ergonomically-designed to be comfortable to hold and use."

The controller features a "pull cord" that starts the game that has a built in chainsaw roar. The controller has a similar button layout to a standard controller, but the chainsaw can be raised up and down and then seen on the screen. Though the website is Play-Asia.com, the controller is for the US version of the game.

Play-asia.com has 8.44 Lifetime Rating on ResellerRatings.com.

Link-Sang also have a version for GameCube. As far as I can tell, these products are not available for sale in the U.S.

College Students Can't Read Good

2006-01-21T16:17:00.000-08:00

According to a study shown by CNN.com, college students lack literacy for complex tasks.

From the article, "More than half of students at four-year colleges -- and at least 75 percent at two-year colleges -- lack the literacy to handle complex, real-life tasks such as understanding credit card offers, a study found."

Is this because courses aren't teaching students the right material, or are college kids just dumb?

How different are credit card offers from pop-up ads or pyramid scams?

If college educated people can't understand credit card offers, this leads me to believe that people may actually follow those stupid "clickheres".

No XBox 360 love in China

2006-01-20T13:12:00.000-08:00

A Chinese analyst believes that when the Xbox 360 goes on sale in China, it will not succeed. He says there are two reasons.

From the article: "While FPSs and popular sports titles sell like hotcakes in North America, they won't fare so well in China."

I guess American gamers like guns and sports more than... well, the article doesn't say what genre Chinese gamers like, but it does say they won't have the money to buy them.

20 years of viruses

2006-01-19T22:14:00.000-08:00

20 years ago if someone were to say they had a virus, they meant that they had an ultramicroscopic infectious agent that replicates itself only within cells of living hosts crawling inside their body. But now we have to think twice when we here that word. The two meanings of the same word have a lot in common, they are both a nuisance, but you don't hear about too many people purposely trying to spread a biological virus.

XP on Intel Macs

2006-01-13T11:47:00.000-08:00

There is still a debate as to whether or not Windows XP will run on the new Intel Macs. The Macs use a different type of BIOS, known as Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI). It is still unclear if the 32-bit version of Windows XP will beable to boot. Others say probably not, but Intel says yes.

New MacBook Pro

2006-01-11T22:02:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday Apple released several new products, one being a new laptop called the MacBook. I was considering buying this product because I thought I may be able to install Windows, but that's not going to happen. Plus, whats with the one mouse click button? They have the Mighty Mouse now, they should have made something similar with the touchpad. Still no word on the battery life...

My First Blog

2006-01-10T17:04:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! This is my first blog.