tech brain farts.com: March 2006

Google releases new Page Creator

Friday, March 31, 2006

"Google Page Creator is a free online tool that makes it easy for anyone to create and publish useful, attractive web pages in just minutes." Looks good to me!

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Adult Swim 24/7 on-line shows finally go live this Friday!

With premieres of Robot Chickens new season and being able to watch shows 24/7 like Futurama this should push the IPTV movement even more.

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Dual Processor vs Dual Core

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Will multiple processors or a dual core processor be beneficial to you, and what are the differences between them? These are the questions this article will attempt to lay to rest.

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Toronto Highway Traffic - AJAX Driven Realtime Traffic Flow

Take one part googlemaps, one part image analysis (of various traffic maps), throw in AJAX (so that the map is auto-updated every two minutes), and you get a traffic page that tells you where the highway is clogged, and where it isn't.

Useful to know if you need to take a detour.

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More evidence of green teaâ??s brain benefits

"Green tea catechins may improve reference and working-memory related learning ability, say research from Japan, adding to claims that green tea can help ward off Alzheimerâ??s."

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How To: Scanning For Viruses Using Knoppix...

"Ridding a network of Windows computers of a virus or worm can seem impossible. Viruses may cause computers to reboot and infect new machines while you are in the process of removing them. Through the use of the live-software installer, Knoppix provides a solution to this catch-22"

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Over 700 Web 2.0 Sites Reviewed by hand

These guys reviewed over 700 web 2.0 websites and then categorized 300 of them with rewards and so on. There are also great interviews with big names such as Craig Newmark from Craig's List.

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Apple's Mac Os X 10.5 Leopard Will Probably Run Windows!

Rumors have been brewing that Jobs and co. are taking steps toward allowing Windows apps to run on Macs. Now evidence has surfaced that Apple has begun the process toward doing just that!

Is this the beginning of the end for Microsoft's juggernaut 95% market share?

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Google v. Microsoft: New Search Interfaces

Google and Microsoft both have new search interfaces in beta. Here are some comparisons of the two.

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Paypal Mobile Launches - And Its Awesome (via Techcrunch)

No more stopping at ATMs for your friend to give you back that $20 he just borrowed. And no more waiting for change at a restaurant when you're paying on a credit card and your friend wants to give you cash. And ... just read and start using this.

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200+ photos of the PS3 including pics from the GDC keynote!

Tons of PS3 photos including pictures of Lair, Rainbow Six, the PS3 online interface, music store, Ratchet and Clank, etc.

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Google patents free Wi-Fi

The search-engine giant has developed and patented three technologies for offering wireless Internet access, and advertising, free of charge.

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YouTube.com Downgrades Feature to Prevent Copyright Violations

They write: "We did some analysis of the videos in our system over 10 minutes in length, and we found the overwhelming majority of them were full length, copyrighted videos from tv shows and movies." So much for "15 minutes" of fame. They note that most videos are under 3 minutes. Google video still no such limits.

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How do spammers try to evade bayesian filters

Most of the spam filters use a technique based on Bayesian analysis of the content of the message. As spammers know this they try to modify their messages so they don't get detected as spam.

There are different ways to do this and some of them are explained in this post.

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Amazing Photoshop Retouch

How advertisers assemble reality, breakdown

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Tiger Direct Complaints Adding Up

Based on Better Business Bureau files, Tiger Direct has an unsatisfactory record due to a pattern of unanswered complaints including dissatisfaction with product quality, failure to deliver promised goods, service issues, misrepresentation in advertising and marketing practices and the failure to address and overcome the basic cause of complaints.

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Web2.0 list + Social bookmarking + AJAX rating = web2list.com

A link to all the web 2.0 websites. AJAX star rating system. Alexa ranking, delicious, published sites in digg and ...

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Windows Linux Dual Boot Tutorial

This tutorial was written to help set up a dual boot on a SATA drive but it will also work for PATA. In order to have a fully functional Windows/Linux dual boot system it is preferred that Windows is loaded first. After that you can load Linux and easily dump the boot configuration on Windows NTLDR file (comparable to Linux boot file).

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Is Apple getting ready to run Windows?

Interesting rumor from Engadget says that the next version of OSX may have native support for Windows XP applications, without emulation. It appears Dvorak may have been right, in a sense.

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Digg mentioned in slate.com story on Web 2.0

"Digg's imminent acquisition is a foregone conclusion among valley wags."

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Network Sniffing Screensaver: PacketFountain, Now that's Cool!!

Thursday, March 23, 2006

This guy managed to create a Screensaver that sniffs out your network using VB6 and WinPcap and then displays packets realtime on your Screensaver. Geek way to see what's goin' on at your Lan.

read more | digg story

iPod phone confirmed

While analysts and Apple rumor sites have been speculating, Benq confirms that an iPhone is in the works. Their suppliers who work with Apple have been requested to supply parts for the iPhone. Benq also states that the Apple iPhone is common knowledge in Taiwan. The iPhone is expected to be released in the 4th quarter of this year.

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ATI 1GB Video Card

Never to be outdone, ATI Technologies has announced the industryâ??s first one gigabyte (1GB) workstation graphics accelerator, the ATI FireGL V7350, and also a 512MB configuration, the FireGL V7300.

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10 Emerging Technologies

Epigenetics, Cognitive Radio, Nuclear Reprogramming, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, Universal Authentication, Nanobiomechanics, Pervasive Wireless, Stretchable Silicon, Comparative Interactomics, Nanomedicine.

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How To: Re-Surfacing CDs So They Work Again

With a few things that might be in your house, here is a simple way to remove scratches from a cd so you can get your data back off the disc again.

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Rails for Designers

This is for designers who are going to be working with Rails and is intended to give them a good starting point to jump into work with a Rails developer. This is all introductory material. Basics are covered (MVC, locations of files) as well as a code example and more advanced topics (partials, ActionView helpers).

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Song Tapper

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Here is a web site that will try to guess the name of the song from your tapping of the space bar
http://www.songtapper.com/s/tappingmain.bin

Thanks for the link, Leo

AOL announces an Internet-based television network

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

AOL announces an Internet-based television network

Star Wars, the TV series, is GO!

Friday, March 17, 2006

The new Star Wars TV Series will have more than 100 episodes, and is expected to debut sometime in 2008.

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Convert QuickTime Videos to AVI

A quick and easy guide on how to convert QuickTime videos, very handy for video editing, and the best part is, it's FREE!!!

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Google Maps API Basic Tutorial

A tutorial to help you create your own interactive maps using the Google API. A good cut and paste "I want to get something working asap" type of tutorial. Will have you geographically enabled in no time.

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List Of Security-related Firefox Extensions

Firefox's extensions are one of its biggest selling points. Looking for ones that will help make your browsing more secure? Check out this list.

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Ultimate Web 2.0 Websites List

Thursday, March 16, 2006

For all those Web 2.0 hungry people here is a link to all the web 2.0 websites.

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Google Redux Greasemonkey Script

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Upon seeing Google Redux by Andy Rutledge, I fell in love with it. After realizing Google will likely never implement it, I made a Greasemonkey script to replace Google with an almost exact copy of Andy's. So, unlike the other implementations, you don't have to visit another page to use it and there is no extra information in it. Enjoy.

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WinXP on a Mac! Finally!

So it appears, someone has cracked the Mac. Sources indicate that a solution has been submitted for review to claim the now $12,000 prize. Furthermore, it appears the source is enlisting additional testers. Guess, its not impossible after all!

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Cebit 2006: High end Motherboards and Server News

Anandtech goes to Cebit and finds the hottest motherboard and server news. Find the latest details on Intel's Itanium and AMD procs. Also take a look at one of the hottest upcoming technologies out there, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS).

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Volkswagen and Google navigation system (first images)

Volkswagen and Google are working together to develop a revolutionary new navigation system.

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Paste an email, get Google map visual trace of the route

Those crazy ( http://digg.com/software/Google_map_of_open_webcam_s ) Goocam people did it again: paste in an email and they plot it on google maps.

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When and how to use internet image formats

What is this guide for? To teach you how to use the correct image formats for the correct situation. I am personally fed up of seeing people use gif for photos, jpeg for Windows screencaps, and other totally inappropriate image format uses. So I made this guide in an attempt to explain how and when to use what formats.

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Is Vista Microsoft's last OS?

Bill Gates discusses Microsoft's new plan... and it isn't operating systems as we know them...

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Cable Companies: We'll Kill VoIP

Cable companies in the U.S. and Canada may be moving to squash one of the biggest threats to their future expansion --- VoIP. A Canadian cable company is already charging customers a premium for using competing VoIP products, and users are complaining that Comcast is purposely degrading the quality of Vonage connections.

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The Net's New Age

Interesting story on some of the differences and similarities to Web 1.0 and Web2.0 era's. " Technology that aims to revolutionize how surfers use the Web is fueling a new wave of Internet investment and challenging established media"

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New Office 2007 UI screenshots

Friday, March 10, 2006

These are amazing new screenshots from the new Office 2007 UI. Finally Microsoft is making a beautiful product.

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Screenshot of Microsoft.com's First Web Page

This is a flash back to the early days, when this sort of design would have been THE SITE.

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Debit card thieves get around PIN obstacle

Wave of ATM fraud indicates criminals have upped the ante....time to go check the bank transactions...sigh.

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Google/Writely a done deal.

No longer a rumor.

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Think of P2P file sharing, except google is one of those people. G2P.ORG

Using some special searches, we are able to search for specific files (and file types) using google. What G2P is currently tuned to find is MP3s, Ebooks, and gives the ability to use google as a Proxy. These searches alone are nothing secret, but G2P puts them easy to use (and remember) interface.

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Microsoft bombshell: no EFI support for Vista

Microsoft revealed today that it will not support EFI booting for Windows Vista on its launch. The news will be a shock for owners of Intel Macs who had hoped they would be able to dual-boot between Windows Vista and OS X. Intel Macs only support booting via EFI.

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Top 10 Geek Watches

Thursday, March 09, 2006

2006 apparently is the year of the geek, check out this list of the Top 10 geek watches.

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Tips to Secure Linux Workstation

Tips to Secure Linux Workstation

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ÂµTorrent 1.5 released!

This is a big version release for ÂµTorrent, the popular and lightweight BitTorrent client. The major additions are Peer Exchange and Protocol Encryption, in combination with optimizations to download speed and hard disk accesses. changelog: http://www.utorrent.com/download/1.5/utorrent-1.5.txt

read more | digg story

OFFICIAL: Firefox 2.0 Alpha 1 Release This Week!

Firefox 2.0 Alpha 1 is set to be released by the end of this week (in 3 - 4 days), after being delayed a month due to development issues!

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Downloadable AJAX Galleries, Slideshows and Effects

Some pretty nice AJAX Photo galleries here. Check it.

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OLED Linux Watch

I have been shopping for a cool watch lately and thought it would be neat to have an OLED watch, so off to Google I went and this is what came up, there is even a little quicktime clip. Some may scream that this is old, but I have been using digg from the very beginning and have never seen this.

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Real Google Calendar (aka CL2) Screenshots + Info.

TechCrunch scored a bunch of exclusive screenshots of Google's upcoming calendar application. It's apparently a long way away from launch.

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Daily Show available on iTunes!

Multi-pass. Pay $9.99 and get 16 episodes. One each week. Think of them as Paid-for podcasts.

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Canada ISPs just as greedy as USA ISPs....SURPRISE!!!!

Shaw wants its high-speed net customers to pay a $10 "quality of service enhancement" fee if they use a VoIP phone service. Shaw argues that its fee is necessary to maintain the quality of independent VoIP services.

When the CBC tried to find out WTF!?!
Shaw did not immediately return a telephone call to its head office in Calgary.

read more | digg story

Microsoft Live.com - Gets a Makeover

Live.com got a pretty nice...site update.

Microsoft is smoothing over the UI which is reflective of Windows Vista and Media Center OS themes.

The new functionality and design looks pretty sweet.

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Build Your Own PVR, Then Trash It

It's never been easier to assemble a versatile personal video recorder, but the entertainment industry is scheming to make DYI boxes less useful. One reporter tries building a homebrew TiVo clone.

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Find similar sites using similicio.us

This mashup of del.icio.us and easyutil.com allows people to find similar sites. It answers the question "people who tagged this site also tagged what other sites".

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Yahoo fed Google secrets to TechCrunch

You've probably read the buzz about Google Calendar on TechCrunch. The story behind how he got the screen shots is even more interesting... Obviously, he knows a number of people at Yahoo!. He was able to track down the Product Manager over there that got into the Google Early Tester and finagled the screen shots out of him.

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MacIntel Native Adobe Creative Suite 3: Ready this year.

Adobe is working hard to release Creative Suite 3 before the end of year. Adobe is making a big pushâ??and receiving significant help from Appleâ??to get the software package into customer hands this year.

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Star Wars TV Update

Lucas wants shows to have wide appeal. Thanks to shows like Battlestar Galactica and Lost, sci-fi and speculative themes are really getting noticed.

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MAME Running on an iPod

The link shows pictures of pac man on a nano. This is all done via iPod Linux.

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The Most Lifelike Text-to-Speech Applet I have ever heard!

Type in your text and hear it spoken. Very clear and "normal" sounding. Clear the "oddjack" cookie after three entries to do more.

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Quake 3 on 24 monitor display wall driven by 12 Linux servers

Wicked setup!

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Ubuntu voted 'Linux distribution of the year'

This is the latest in a long line of awards that Ubuntu has racked up over the last six months, an impressive achievement considering that the distribution is less than two years old.

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10 best Alarm clocks to wake up by

"I took a look at 10 clocks currently on the market. I spent an evening getting to know each clock (reading their instruction manuals, fiddling with their buttons and knobs) before I took them to bed for a one- to two-night stand (depending on how well we got along)."

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Create your own free web OS account in http://eyeos.info

With this free web desktop you can take your data everyÂwhere and be organized thanks to the base apÂplicÂaÂtions (CalÂenÂdar, Agenda, Word ProÂcessor, File OrÂganÂizer, bookmark browser, etc).
Log into http://eyeos.info and register.

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