Monthly Archives: August 2006

Big national databases

Posted on by
Reply

The UK is on guard after a huge database containing loads of trivial details of everyone under 18 and accessible to around 400,00 people is called ‘unsafe’ – duh.

At the same time the US is parading it’s huge counter terrorism database – which no one will ever hack. Really.

You’d have thought they’d have learnt what having these large databases can do after the Germans marched into the Netherlands and used the most comprehensive people registrar in the world (at the time) to round up all the Jews. Guess not.

Digital Tablet

Posted on by

I bought a Logitech digital pen once, and it turned out to be a total white elephant – you could only use it on special (and expensive) paper that seems to reflect the optical laser to itself. So you were stuck carrying around the pen, the noteblock and post-its because you couldn’t use it on anything else.

Aiptek has a digital tablet that can do the same thing, but at EUR. 113, it’s cheaper than the pen, and looks as though you can use any pen on. So no worries about renewables. Looks good to me!

Nimbuzz

Posted on by

Nimbuzz is the new Skype for mobile phones – free phonecalls and text messages to other mobile phones connected to the Nimbuzz network (over GSM, not GPRS/UMTS/etc). It seems to be out for a lot of brands, including a version for the Palm Tungsten C as well as the usual crop of Nokias etc. It also comes for Windows PCs. Unfortunately I couldn’t get it for my Treo, so can’t tell you much more about it, but this looks worth following, as Skype isn’t looking at Palm at all yet.
It’s all still in alpha / beta and you download it using your phone’s browser.

Ethical Stem Cells

Posted on by

Currently stem cell useage requires the embryo be destroyed, which is why it is termed unethical in the puritan United States.

Professor Robert Lanza, medical director of Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) in Massachusetts, US, and lead author on the paper, said: “We have shown for the first time you can create human embryonic stem cells without destroying the embryo and thus without destroying its potential for life.”

This is done by removing single cells from the embryo.

There’s some controversy about how Professor Lanza conducted his research to find this out and he claims the baby is undamaged, but I have no idea how redundant cells are in the emryonic stage.
At least something is being done to allow cancer sufferers the hope of research in this line of medical science from US clinics.

Flying Cubes

Posted on by

Note: I got this email in from Moondust, but thought it was well worth posting here.

This compares interfaces from Ubuntu, Mac and Windows – it’s great how far Linux has come: it looks way better than Mac and Windoze…

So, check out these videos and tell me which interface you’d rather use.

1. Windows with a little more polish (still fugly)
2. A shiny but tame UI for hardware you don’t have, or
3. The Cube From Beyond (mine has 5 sides)

http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/2915/linux_xglcompiz_graphics

No really, check out these videos.

[salesmode]

And in case you were wondering, linux has *excellent* support for Wacom
kit. (Using a Graphire4 here).

Photoshop-wise there’s GIMPShop
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMPshop

Vector-wise there’s Inkscape
http://www.inkscape.org/screenshots/index.php

You can even run IE6 natively for testing webapps,
http://www.von-thadden.de/Joachim/WineTools/

That funky live-desktop-search stuff?
http://beagle-project.org/Main_Page

Need WoW?
http://wiki.kaspersandberg.com/doku.php?id=howtos:wine:worldofwarcraft

Skype, Google Earth, Adobe, etc all have native Linux builds.
It’s gotta tell you something when these guys consider linux a market.

You want chat?
http://gaim.sf.net/
It’s nicer and multi-protocol! I log into two work accounts, icq and
gtalk (and sometimes msn) all the time!

Manage your photos?
http://f-spot.org/Main_Page

Do some DTP?
http://scribus.sourceforge.net/gallery/

But, but – it’s linux, so all this is hard to install? Hell no, get up
and running with a single cd in under an hour!

But, but, linux doesn’t support most hardware! The hell it does, if it’s
been on the market for over 6 months I don’t even bother to check the
compatibility lists for most things!

Developing Java? Ha! Eclipse, JBuilder, NetBeans and friends are all
linux native! Developing PHP? apt-get install and let every developer
run their own database and webserver with mod_php for testing!

Need media? Your camera, ipod, scanner, usb drives, etc all work out of
the box! Need to burn stuff? Why bother with the linux native version of
Nero when you have gnomebaker and k3b?

Need playback, media centers and whatnot? We have it all!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythTV
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
http://xinehq.de/index.php/releases
http://www.mplayerhq.hu/

Audio playback?
http://www.gnome.org/projects/rhythmbox/screenshots.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarok_(audio)
http://www.lynucs.org/?xmms

Sync your phone?
http://www.multisync.org/

Browsers? You use t3h web and still run IE? Pfah! Take your pick from
Firefox, Flock, Opera or Konqueror! Or do you think that IE7 will fix
everything for you? (If you do, I have some profitable swampland in
Florida for sale.. it’s a bargain!)

Email?
http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/
Oh, you really like Outlook? (Why?)
http://www.gnome.org/projects/evolution/

Collaboration and calendaring?
http://www.hula-project.org/Hula_Project

Come on, who are you kidding? Install Ubuntu today, it’s not like I’m
asking you to touch the command line..

And the coolest part? You won’t have to go through the hassle of
installing Vista for your own personal use sometime next decade.

[/salesmode]

-Michiel.

PS – What virus scanner, product code, online registration, malware
shields, etc? None of the above! And the Cube has an “inside” toggle, so
when you flip it you are no longer outside the Cube, intstead it rotates
around you. Muchos cool.

—
Move ‘zig’ for Great Justice.

The Ultimate Briefcase

Posted on by

I’ve been looking around for a laptop case that can hold all my other stuff, as well as looking stylish and have a shoulder strap. The first thing I looked for were pilot cases, but these rarely come with a strap and for us non-pilots, have impractical innards.
The ultimate for us business types seems to be Tumi, a brand name recognised everywhere. One massive disadvantage: cost.
The model I chose (there are loads of different models) is the leather (don’t like nylon) Generation 4.4 Briefs Safecase Expandable Organizer Computer Brief, style: 96160 (use the style number to search for it on internet).
The price structure is rigid, which means in the stores in NL you can find it for EUR. 675,- and not much differences at all and on internet $ 575,- (but you can get some deals with shipping). Apparently the Ebay ones you can find for around $ 480,- are real, but contain manufacturing flaws.

The liquid plot

Posted on by

Here’s a chemist’s take on the plausibility of the London liquid bomb plot, followed by commentary on what he calls Potemkin security. He references Schneier, and goes on about the practicality of security against these kind of plots (as almost everything can be impregnated with nitrates, such as clothing) and the practicality of guarding against these specific threats. Yup, we all need cavity searches and x-rays before we board the planes naked.

Planets sorted out

Posted on by

As a result of scientific study, the IAU has now decided that instead of 9 planets, our solar system contains at least 12. So time to change your solar system map and re-remember the new planets.

The new definition of a planet is:

A planet is a celestial body that (a) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (b) is in orbit around a star, and is neither a star nor a satellite of a planet.