Google has opened up VP8 for anyone to use and encode in, as well as giving out the SDK – so now you have a free and open option over H.264 for web video.
The WebM Project : tools : VP8 SDK.
WebM is open sourced VP8
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YouTube – Stephen Wolfram: Computing a theory of everything
Openbook – search facebook status updates
ConLibs start to bring the UK back to sanity: outlawing fingerprinting of children at schools
It looks like the UK is starting to be saved allreay! The ConLibs are devoted to things such as personaly privacy and are against mammoth centralised databases (such as the National ID fiasco). The government is looking to increase the safety of your data and keep much less of it. Well done, I hope this becomes a continuing trend!
ConLibs to outlaw kiddyprinting without permission • The Register.
Dupont 50″ printed OLED screen
Dupont has managed to print out a 50″ OLED screen, which tests say should be reliable for around 12 years, in 2 minutes time. This should speed up the production and implementation of OLED, as well as make it quite a bit cheaper.
Technology Review: New Inks Could Mean Cheaper OLED Screens.
MIT designs plane that uses 70% less fuel
Compiz Keyboard Shortcuts in Ubuntu 10.04 | Tombuntu
Some of the following keyboard shortcuts will not work at all if Compiz (visual effects) if turned off.
Workspaces
- Ctrl + Alt + Left/Right/Up/Down arrow – move to the workspace in the given direction
- Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Left/Right arrow – move the current window to the workspace in the given direction
- Super + E – “expo” effect, shows all workspaces (move windows with left mouse button, zoom to a workspace with right mouse button)
Window Management
- Super + W – “scale” effect, shows all windows in current workspace (left click selects window, middle click closes window, right click zooms window)
- Super + A – “scale” effect, shows all windows
- Alt + F10 – toggle maximize current window
- Alt + F9 – minimize current window
- Ctrl + Alt + D – toggle show desktop
- Alt + Middle mouse button – resize window
- Alt + Left mouse button – move window
- Alt + Right mouse button – window menu
- Alt + F7 – move current window (without holding down mouse button)
- Alt + F8 – resize current window (without holding down mouse button)
- Alt + Tab – switch windows on current workspace
- Ctrl + Alt + Tab – switch windows on all workspaces
Accessibility
- Super + Mouse wheel scroll – zoom screen
- Super + Middle mouse button – draw rectangle to zoom to
- Super + N – invert colours of current window
- Super + M – invert colours of screen (Compiz is configured for this shortcut, but the messaging indicator seems to have taken it over so it doesn’t work)
Ubuntu Community Documentation has more on keyboard shortcuts (although some of it is outdated now for Ubuntu 10.04). You can view and change some shortcuts using System->Preferences->Keyboard Shortcuts.
Compiz Keyboard Shortcuts in Ubuntu 10.04 | Tombuntu.
Kite tidal energy
England, the home of tidal energy generator projects, has a new one: a Swedish startup has models of a turbine attached to a kite wing and rudder tethered to the ocean floor.
‘Underwater kite’ aims to turn energy tide – CNN.com.
Torrent users tracked easily
French researchers have found it very easy using just a normal pc and internet connection, to track exactly what IPs where seeding and downloading what files. 30% of all bittorrent traffic is generated by only around 100 IP adresses.
And if you’re behind Tor, you’re not safe either.
Researchers spy on BitTorrent users in real-time • The Register.
Mechwarrior 4 Free Release!
Finally, the long awaited moment has arrived!
Studio MekTek, in association with Smith and Tinker, INC., Virtual World Entertainment, LLC, Catalyst Game Labs, and Microsoft Games, is happy to announce the release of Mechwarrior4 Free.
Getting started is easy. Just download and install MTX, MekTek’s free content delivery and updating system. Once installed, simply click the Games Available tab, select Mechwarrior4: Mercenaries and click install. The game will download and install, all within MTX, and as updates become available, MTX will help you keep your game up to date.
Once again, a big thanks to Microsoft Games and all of our partners for making this free release possible, and a special thanks to all of you in the community. Without our community, MekTek wouldn’t be what it is today. Your continued support and financial contributions have made all of this possible.
Download Mechwarrior4: Mercenaries Free Release 1.7 GB via MTX today!
via Mechwarrior 4 Free Release.
One of the greatest features of MekPak3.1 and of Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries in general, is the ability to customize. Mechwarrior always has been about the Mechlab, especially multiplayer. The Mechlab truly distinguishes MW4 from a long list of shooters that have come out in the past 10 years. The ability to create literally thousands of configurations allows the game to continue in popularity over its lengthy life span. Since the Free Release not only comes with the original mechs and weapons of Mercenaries, but also with the Clan and IS Mech Packs and all the Mektek mechs and weapons here is what you are getting…for free.
Spirit untethered jailbreak for ipad, iphone, itouch
It’s an easy thing to use, just make sure you use windows 98 / 95 compatibility mode, just to be sure…
Rocket Racing League Alive and well
It now has released the Mark III X-racer to fly a virtual circuit against up to 10 other pilots.
SPACE.com — Rocket Racing League Unveils New Flying Hot Rod.
Armadillo Aerospace has several videos up showing their propulsion system in action.
Mind controlled spy robot
This guy has gone all out – he’s mapped his Emotiv headset commands to Rovio commands, which are sent out via skype to the robot.
Emotiv Headset Controls Rovio Robot Via Brainwaves – Rovio emotiv hack – Gizmodo.
Bluetooth Radar
GSM Locations and name / number combinations easy to get at
A pair of security researchers has discovered a number of new attack vectors that give them the ability to not only locate any GSM mobile handset anywhere in the world, but also find the name of the subscriber associated with virtually any cellular phone number, raising serious privacy and security concerns for customers of all of the major mobile providers.
via Researchers Hijack Cell Phone Data, GSM Locations | threatpost.
They use the caller ID database which is pretty much open to everyone, because all the providers need to get at it.
Using makeup to thwart face detection
A student has studied openCV for his masters thesis and determined how face detection algorythms should work. By putting dark makeup around your eyes and cheekbones, you should be able to break the detection and make the system think you’re something else.
Reverse-engineering artist busts face detection tech • The Register.
Dutch Delta Works to be changed
Since the dykes were built in 1953, the low lands have been saved from flooding, but the water behind the dykes is stagnant, leading to ecological problems in those areas. There are now proposals to allow water through, creating tides in the sea estuaries. This will also allow tidal power to be generated.
nrc.nl – International – The tide has changed for Dutch dykes.
UK speed traps in space
The cameras, which combine number plate reading technology with a global positioning satellite receiver, are similar to those used in roadworks.
The AA said it believed the new system could cover a network of streets as opposed to a straight line, and was “probably geared up to zones in residential areas.”
The Home Office is testing the cameras at two sites, one in Southwark, London, and the other A374 between Antony and Torpoint in Cornwall.
The `SpeedSpike’ system, which calculates average speed between any two points in the network, has been developed by PIPS Technology Ltd, an American-owned company with a base in Hampshire.
via New speed cameras trap motorists from space – Telegraph.
It’s unbelievable the amount of money it must cost to design and launch this system. The revenue must be huge, because the problem they’re designed to solve (speeding) doesn’t lead to many deaths or accidents.
Linux on the iPhone: Android running on iPhone!
The guy who got Linux running on the iPhone has managed to set up his iphone 2G to dual boot into iphone OS or Android. Android is still pretty alpha and he’s had to hack around a bit to handle the lack of buttons on the unit, but it works and he’s released all the stuff needed.
Linux on the iPhone: Android running on iPhone!.
Government requests directed to Google and YouTube
Using the Google maps tool, you can see how many requests have been fielded by each government, as well as what kind of requests they have made.
Government requests directed to Google and YouTube.
AIVD: The Netherlands is being spied on by hackers
The AIVD, the Dutch internal security police, have issued a warning that Dutch government and businesses are being spied on at an unprecedented rate, usually by trying to install trojans activated by email attachments. The spies are often foreign governments and China is being fingered specifically as a culprit.
AIVD: Nederland steeds vaker digitaal bespioneerd | Webwereld.
How to Hack Toy EEGs
This is a comprehensive look at how to hack into Open EEG, Force Trainer, Mind Flex and Mind Set, in order to get some more output from them than the designers intended.
How to Hack Toy EEGs | Frontier Nerds.
Synergy updates
Synergy is a system that allows you to control multiple computers (with multiple screens) with a single mouse and keyboard. It also supports clipboard sharing.
To install it, though, for Linux or Mac, all you had was command line. QSynergy gives you a GUI to set it up on Linux, Mac and Windows.
QSynergy — www.volker-lanz.de.
Synergy itself hasn’t been updated in a few years (since 2006, though it still works under windows 7), and since then a fork has come up called Synergy+ which has dived into the bugs and is an active project.
Birding News and Features — eBird
If you’re a birdwatcher, eBird is the site for you to go – huge maps of species and countries, you can follow the birds as they’re reported in by other eBirders.
Birding News and Features — eBird.
Even the Economist has had it with Mickey Mouse copyright
The Economist weighs in and says that extending copyright doesn’t increase creativity, it stifles it and Europe should think long and hard before going down the American way and extending it for perpituity.
Protecting creativity: Copyright and wrong | The Economist.