Wednesday, June 30, 2004
J-Walk Blog:? Black Pixel Shortage
J-Walk Blog:? Black Pixel Shortage
"News item: Black Pixel Shortage Threatens Internet! - Unconfirmed Sources report that the world supply of black pixels is running out. The shortage is believed to be caused in part by the overuse of exclamation points (!) in online humor web sites and blogs. Experts from around the globe are gathering in Silicon Valley to solve the problem. "
"News item: Black Pixel Shortage Threatens Internet! - Unconfirmed Sources report that the world supply of black pixels is running out. The shortage is believed to be caused in part by the overuse of exclamation points (!) in online humor web sites and blogs. Experts from around the globe are gathering in Silicon Valley to solve the problem. "
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Blogger Knowledge
Blogger Knowledge - useful info about getting more from the Blogger interface.
Microsoft targets amateur programmers | CNET News.com
Microsoft targets amateur programmers | CNET News.com
"update Microsoft is reaching out to nonprofessional programmers with a revamped line of developer tools, including a free version of its forthcoming SQL Server database. "
"update Microsoft is reaching out to nonprofessional programmers with a revamped line of developer tools, including a free version of its forthcoming SQL Server database. "
Monday, June 28, 2004
J-Walk Blog:? RSS For ABC News
J-Walk Blog:? RSS For ABC News
"Cory Doctorow points out just how clueless a major news organization can be: How to sign up for ABC RSS without selling your soul.
ABC News has a good selection of RSS feeds. Unfortunately, in order to reach the page where they're listed, you have to click through this disgusting, clueless, multi-page 'agreement.'
Or, bypass this absurd requirement and access the RSS feeds directly (Cory provides the URLs)."
"Cory Doctorow points out just how clueless a major news organization can be: How to sign up for ABC RSS without selling your soul.
ABC News has a good selection of RSS feeds. Unfortunately, in order to reach the page where they're listed, you have to click through this disgusting, clueless, multi-page 'agreement.'
Or, bypass this absurd requirement and access the RSS feeds directly (Cory provides the URLs)."
Boing Boing: Meshcube
Boing Boing: Meshcube
"The Meshcube is a tiny, kit-built meshing WiFi (802.11a/b/g) access-point. It's kinda pricey (?199 and up), but it looks great and meshing networks are genuinely cool. Link"
"The Meshcube is a tiny, kit-built meshing WiFi (802.11a/b/g) access-point. It's kinda pricey (?199 and up), but it looks great and meshing networks are genuinely cool. Link"
Boing Boing: Tolkien translated into hacker 1337-speak
Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things
"F3ll0wsh1p of teh R1ng: the classic Tolkien translated into hacker 1337-speak.
[At Bilbo's 111th Birthday]
Merry: 'Omg, I pwn'
Pippin: 'Sif, I pwn'
**Rocket goes off
Gandalf: 'Pwned!'
Link"
"F3ll0wsh1p of teh R1ng: the classic Tolkien translated into hacker 1337-speak.
[At Bilbo's 111th Birthday]
Merry: 'Omg, I pwn'
Pippin: 'Sif, I pwn'
**Rocket goes off
Gandalf: 'Pwned!'
Link"
The Gizmo Game
Neat little game site - odd pix - multiple-choice to guess what the 'gizmo' is - fun. The Gizmo Game (Link from J-Walk)
Brain Academy 2: Calling all students | The Register
Brain Academy 2: Calling all students | The Register
Links on to ... Contest to win a place (3 winners in fact) to Queen Mary College doing Comp Sci. Lots of computer questions. QMUL Computer Science Competition - Timetable
Links on to ... Contest to win a place (3 winners in fact) to Queen Mary College doing Comp Sci. Lots of computer questions. QMUL Computer Science Competition - Timetable
Automatic perfect pint pouring machine
Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things
"A student has invented a device for hand-free, no-attention 'perfect pint' pouring that will empty a can of lager into a pint sleeve without your having to take your eyes off the football. Link"
"A student has invented a device for hand-free, no-attention 'perfect pint' pouring that will empty a can of lager into a pint sleeve without your having to take your eyes off the football. Link"
Ridiculopathy.com: Crappy Flash Game: swinger
Ridiculopathy.com: Crappy Flash Game: swinger - quite neat one actually.
J-Walk Blog:? I Like This Clock
Thursday, June 24, 2004
Boing Boing: Paper foldable eMac
Boing Boing: Paper foldable eMac
"Here's a printable cut-and-fold paper model of an eMac to go with all your other paper computers. 308k PDF Link"
"Here's a printable cut-and-fold paper model of an eMac to go with all your other paper computers. 308k PDF Link"
J-Walk Blog:? Text Stereogram
Works well - J-Walk Blog:? Text Stereogram
"This is amazing: A text stereogram. Cross your eyes just right, and you'll see a hidden message. Really. "
"This is amazing: A text stereogram. Cross your eyes just right, and you'll see a hidden message. Really. "
Boing Boing: Space Invader Stickers
Boing Boing: Space Invader Stickers
"Super-cool Space Invader stickers with which to plaster your walls"
"Super-cool Space Invader stickers with which to plaster your walls"
J-Walk Blog:? An Excel Quine Formula
Visit this item for some extra info and links. Interesting idea and thoughts follow on - quine - hmmm.
J-Walk Blog:? An Excel Quine Formula
"Jonathan Rynd sent me this unusual Excel formula:
=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE('=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE
(#@#,CHAR(35),CHAR(34)),CHAR(64),#@#)',CHAR(35),
CHAR(34)),CHAR(64),'=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE
(#@#,CHAR(35),CHAR(34)),CHAR(64),#@#)')"
J-Walk Blog:? An Excel Quine Formula
"Jonathan Rynd sent me this unusual Excel formula:
=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE('=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE
(#@#,CHAR(35),CHAR(34)),CHAR(64),#@#)',CHAR(35),
CHAR(34)),CHAR(64),'=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE
(#@#,CHAR(35),CHAR(34)),CHAR(64),#@#)')"
J-Walk Blog:? Word Color
J-Walk Blog:? Word Color
"Download Douwe Osinga's fun little Window app called Word Color.
It uses Google Image Search to determine the color of a word or string of words. It goes out there, retrieves the top 9 images and loops through all pixels, calculating the average hue, which is later converted to a color."
"Download Douwe Osinga's fun little Window app called Word Color.
It uses Google Image Search to determine the color of a word or string of words. It goes out there, retrieves the top 9 images and loops through all pixels, calculating the average hue, which is later converted to a color."
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Boing Boing: Fantastical timepieces
Boing Boing: Fantastical timepieces
"The Wrist Fashion Blog has a stunning roundup of super-sexy new timepieces, including this melting Dali clock and a kitchen table surfaced with electroluminescent film that displays a digital readout of the time. Link"
"The Wrist Fashion Blog has a stunning roundup of super-sexy new timepieces, including this melting Dali clock and a kitchen table surfaced with electroluminescent film that displays a digital readout of the time. Link"
Slashdot | US Navy to Deploy Rail Guns by 2011
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
BBC NEWS | Technology | Effort to save UK's web heritage
Monday, June 21, 2004
Boing Boing: Public toilet lets you see out, but people can't see in
Boing Boing: Public toilet lets you see out, but people can't see in
"Public toilet lets you see out, but people can't see in - Here's a picture of a public toilet in Switzerland that's made entirely out of one-way glass. No one can see you in there, but when you are inside, it looks like you're sitting in a clear glass box. I don't think I'd be able to go. Link"
"Public toilet lets you see out, but people can't see in - Here's a picture of a public toilet in Switzerland that's made entirely out of one-way glass. No one can see you in there, but when you are inside, it looks like you're sitting in a clear glass box. I don't think I'd be able to go. Link"
U.K. weather forecasters bet on supercomputers | CNET News.com
J-Walk Blog:? That's A Big Truck
J-Walk Blog:? 3D Penguins
Boing Boing: Nerdy typefaces
Boing Boing: Nerdy typefaces
"This site has a great collection of free TT typefaces inspired by media from Gilligan's Island and Buffy. I love the videogame dingbats."
"This site has a great collection of free TT typefaces inspired by media from Gilligan's Island and Buffy. I love the videogame dingbats."
Man who catch fly with chopsticks can accomplish anything
Great little flash game - Man who catch fly with chopsticks can accomplish anything
Iconwars
Boing Boing: Everything we know about traffic-calming is wrong
Boing Boing: Everything we know about traffic-calming is wrong
"Everything we know about traffic-calming is wrong
Mind-blowing article about the European and Chinese challenges to the received wisdom on traffic planning and calming, arguing that the separation of peds and cars leads to less-safe streets: "
"Everything we know about traffic-calming is wrong
Mind-blowing article about the European and Chinese challenges to the received wisdom on traffic planning and calming, arguing that the separation of peds and cars leads to less-safe streets: "
Boing Boing: Web Zen: Paper Model Zen
A whole load of links to the Web Zen site and paper-folding stuff - Boing Boing: Web Zen: Paper Model Zen
Thursday, June 17, 2004
Boing Boing: Could you outrun a crossbow bolt? How about a 747?
Boing Boing: Could you outrun a crossbow bolt? How about a 747?
"Could you outrun a crossbow bolt? How about a 747? Here's a chart showing the typical speed of various Hollwood chase-scene pursuers, from T-Rexii to Boeing 747s."
"Could you outrun a crossbow bolt? How about a 747? Here's a chart showing the typical speed of various Hollwood chase-scene pursuers, from T-Rexii to Boeing 747s."
Slashdot | Which RAID for a Personal Fileserver?
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Slashdot | Orac^3 -- Not Your Everyday Casemod
Slashdot | Orac^3 -- Not Your Everyday Casemod
"G-nome has finished his amazing Orac case mod, which looks absolutely stunning"
The first part of this can be found here.
"G-nome has finished his amazing Orac case mod, which looks absolutely stunning"
The first part of this can be found here.
J-Walk Blog:? Office Morons
J-Walk Blog:? Office Morons
"Take the Office Moron Test. Morons. Offices are full of them; irritating little people with no redeeming features, forming their own social hierarchies within the walls of the workplace"
"Take the Office Moron Test. Morons. Offices are full of them; irritating little people with no redeeming features, forming their own social hierarchies within the walls of the workplace"
Monday, June 14, 2004
J-Walk Blog:? Elementary Domain Names
J-Walk Blog:? Elementary Domain Names
"This is interesting: The most elementary resources on the Web. It's basically a bunch of different lists of domain names that have something in common. For example, lists include domains that are named after colors, days of the week, months, numbers, etc."
"This is interesting: The most elementary resources on the Web. It's basically a bunch of different lists of domain names that have something in common. For example, lists include domains that are named after colors, days of the week, months, numbers, etc."
Critical Section - unused keys
Interesting little blog article - has link to a follow-up of more of the same.
Critical Section - unused keys
Critical Section - unused keys
Sunday, June 13, 2004
F***ing Google It
F***ing Google It
Rather amusing site for those who can't be bothered to look for themselves - the URL says it all so perhaps a redirect - for example this one - could be used to hide it from the more savvy but lazy types.
Rather amusing site for those who can't be bothered to look for themselves - the URL says it all so perhaps a redirect - for example this one - could be used to hide it from the more savvy but lazy types.
Slashdot | Searching for the Best Scripting Language
J-Walk Blog:? Google War
Saturday, June 12, 2004
J-Walk Blog:? Chineses Cookware Antenna
J-Walk Blog:? Chineses Cookware Antenna
"Here's an article that describes how to use Chinese cooking utensils to make a DIY WiFi antenna"
"Here's an article that describes how to use Chinese cooking utensils to make a DIY WiFi antenna"
Slashdot | BT Plans Move To IP Telephony, Starting Next Year
Slashdot | Why Learning Assembly Language Is Still Good
Friday, June 11, 2004
J-Walk Blog:? The CapsLock Key
J-Walk Blog:? The CapsLock Key
A movement to ban the CapsLock key: AnticAPSLOCK.com. Their mission:
Our goal here at anticAPSLOCK.com is to have the capslock key removed from keyboards that are manufactured in the future.
We will try to achieve this by spreading the word of anticAPSLOCK.com (not to mention spreading the url) and we will always appreciate any help we can get in this task.
A movement to ban the CapsLock key: AnticAPSLOCK.com. Their mission:
Our goal here at anticAPSLOCK.com is to have the capslock key removed from keyboards that are manufactured in the future.
We will try to achieve this by spreading the word of anticAPSLOCK.com (not to mention spreading the url) and we will always appreciate any help we can get in this task.
Slashdot | 'Cut and Paste' Is Out, 'Pick and Drop' Is In
J-Walk Blog:? Infinite Art
Slashdot | Realistic Human Graphics Look Creepy
Slashdot | RFID License Plates in the UK
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Slashdot | Web Logs Finally Meet Sim City
Slashdot | Web Logs Finally Meet Sim City - interesting tracking of your web sites.
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
J-Walk Blog:? Remote Controls
J-Walk Blog:? Remote Controls
"From Jakob Nielsen, the usability guy: Remote Control Anarchy.
I'm frustrated by how difficult it is to watch a movie on my TV. It ought to be a relaxing experience, but I constantly get into trouble trying to operate the several remote controls required to accomplish this simple task. "
"From Jakob Nielsen, the usability guy: Remote Control Anarchy.
I'm frustrated by how difficult it is to watch a movie on my TV. It ought to be a relaxing experience, but I constantly get into trouble trying to operate the several remote controls required to accomplish this simple task. "
Boing Boing: Slashdot-proof your server with FreeCache
Boing Boing: Slashdot-proof your server with FreeCache
"Slashdot-proof your server with FreeCache --- FreeCache is a kind of Ad-Hoc-amai -- a service that caches high-demand content on high-availability servers. The Internet Archive's FreeCache service has an automated tool that integrates with Apache to automatically cache and redirect visitors attempting to download large, popular files -- using this can slashdot-proof your server. Link (Thanks, Dav!) "
"Slashdot-proof your server with FreeCache --- FreeCache is a kind of Ad-Hoc-amai -- a service that caches high-demand content on high-availability servers. The Internet Archive's FreeCache service has an automated tool that integrates with Apache to automatically cache and redirect visitors attempting to download large, popular files -- using this can slashdot-proof your server. Link (Thanks, Dav!) "
Via bus induces transports of delight
Via bus induces transports of delight - in-flight-type technology on the coach.
BBC NEWS | Politics | Watchdog's 'alarm' over ID cards
Someone in "power" getting the message at last - BBC NEWS | Politics | Watchdog's 'alarm' over ID cards
Monday, June 07, 2004
feed on feeds - new items
feed on feeds - new items
"Here's a list of the 10 Best Internet Fads. One of my favorites is the Tourist Guy."
"Here's a list of the 10 Best Internet Fads. One of my favorites is the Tourist Guy."
J-Walk Blog:? Cool Song Moments
A good link - ranges from 1959 to 2001 but a lot of 70s and 80s - but what have they missed?
J-Walk Blog:? Cool Song Moments
"From retroCRUSH: The 50 Coolest Song Moments of All Time. Not songs. The list is about parts of songs.
For example, #36 is the funky bass part towards the end of Paul Simon's 'You Can Call Me Al.' I didn't know this:
If you listen closely, the lick is actually a musical palindrome - it was played forward in its entirety, then the tape was flipped over and played backwards, the backwards lick was recorded onto another tape, and then that second recording was edited into place.
(via Magnetbox)"
J-Walk Blog:? Cool Song Moments
"From retroCRUSH: The 50 Coolest Song Moments of All Time. Not songs. The list is about parts of songs.
For example, #36 is the funky bass part towards the end of Paul Simon's 'You Can Call Me Al.' I didn't know this:
If you listen closely, the lick is actually a musical palindrome - it was played forward in its entirety, then the tape was flipped over and played backwards, the backwards lick was recorded onto another tape, and then that second recording was edited into place.
(via Magnetbox)"
Boing Boing: TheyWorkForYou: finest advocacy web-app in the world
Great link - Boing Boing: TheyWorkForYou: finest advocacy web-app in the world
TheyWorkForYou.com -- a project from the FaxYourMP team -- has launched today. This is the most amazing, subversive piece of political webware I've ever seen. It scrapes the Parliamentary record and makes the entire thing commentable, searchable and permalinkable. It compiles stats of which MPs vote against their parties most often, which ones speak most often, which have made the most motions and so forth. I've been beta-testing it and the code and UI are brilliant. It's like they've poured Parliament into LiveJournal -- and in so doing, have cutg overnment down to a human-addressable scale. We need one of these in every country in the world. Link
TheyWorkForYou.com -- a project from the FaxYourMP team -- has launched today. This is the most amazing, subversive piece of political webware I've ever seen. It scrapes the Parliamentary record and makes the entire thing commentable, searchable and permalinkable. It compiles stats of which MPs vote against their parties most often, which ones speak most often, which have made the most motions and so forth. I've been beta-testing it and the code and UI are brilliant. It's like they've poured Parliament into LiveJournal -- and in so doing, have cutg overnment down to a human-addressable scale. We need one of these in every country in the world. Link
Slashdot | More Cringley on Linux Embedded Hardware Hacking
Following up the earlier post about Cringely and hacking the Linksys wifi 10g router - Slashdot | More Cringley on Linux Embedded Hardware Hacking
Previous item is here.
Previous item is here.
Sunday, June 06, 2004
Slashdot | Is Caps Lock Dead?
Saturday, June 05, 2004
Boing Boing: Gallery of movie copyright warnings
Boing Boing: Gallery of movie copyright warnings
"The folks at Monochrom have set up a group photo-gallery site for flash photos of the insulting copyright warnings at the start of movies. I saw Day After Tomorrow last night at the Camden Odeon and the new copyright warning there was so ghastly I was frozen in place and didn't get a pic. I'll have to capture it next time and send it in"
"The folks at Monochrom have set up a group photo-gallery site for flash photos of the insulting copyright warnings at the start of movies. I saw Day After Tomorrow last night at the Camden Odeon and the new copyright warning there was so ghastly I was frozen in place and didn't get a pic. I'll have to capture it next time and send it in"
Slashdot | Ten Years of BeOS
Slashdot | Ten Years of BeOS
"BeOS was released to developers officially for the first time ten years ago. OSNews has a charming write-up about the BeOS, some interesting historical events since 1994, and a few anecdotes as well. Today, BeOS still lives on with projects like the freeware BeOS Max (built upon BeOS 5 PE), the open source re-implementation from scratch OpenBeOS and YellowTAB's commercial Zeta OS (based on unreleased and updated code of what would have been 'BeOS 6' if Be wasn't purchased by Palm in 2001).' "
"BeOS was released to developers officially for the first time ten years ago. OSNews has a charming write-up about the BeOS, some interesting historical events since 1994, and a few anecdotes as well. Today, BeOS still lives on with projects like the freeware BeOS Max (built upon BeOS 5 PE), the open source re-implementation from scratch OpenBeOS and YellowTAB's commercial Zeta OS (based on unreleased and updated code of what would have been 'BeOS 6' if Be wasn't purchased by Palm in 2001).' "
Friday, June 04, 2004
J-Walk Blog:? Which Side?
J-Walk Blog:? Which Side?
"Brian Lucas answers the question, Which side of the road do they drive on?"
"Brian Lucas answers the question, Which side of the road do they drive on?"
Thursday, June 03, 2004
Reading, Writing, and Landscaping
Article about low-pay teachers - american experience but relevant all the same. Reading, Writing, and Landscaping
Slashdot | Solid-State Mini-ITX Linux Recording Studio HOWTO
Slashdot | Solid-State Mini-ITX Linux Recording Studio HOWTO
"LinuxDevices.com has posted a project howto on building a dedicated music recording and editing computer that uses a CompactFlash card instead of a hard drive, to eliminate hard disk chatter"
"LinuxDevices.com has posted a project howto on building a dedicated music recording and editing computer that uses a CompactFlash card instead of a hard drive, to eliminate hard disk chatter"
Chipworks - Silicon Art
Chipworks - Silicon Art - like the Silicon Zoo - only not.
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Slashdot | Canon Digital Rebel Hacked Into A Pseudo-10D
Another article about hacking into consumer things. (for ref)
Slashdot | Canon Digital Rebel Hacked Into A Pseudo-10D
Slashdot | Canon Digital Rebel Hacked Into A Pseudo-10D
Return of Colossus to mark D-Day
BBC NEWS | Technology | Return of Colossus marks D-Day
Slashdot | Colossus has been Rebuilt
Codebreaking Colossus returns to Bletchley Park | The Register
Slashdot | Colossus has been Rebuilt
Codebreaking Colossus returns to Bletchley Park | The Register
Slashdot | Hacking the Linksys WRT54G
Some good links about this including the main article by Cringely. Slashdot | Hacking the Linksys WRT54G
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Slashdot | Programming For Terrified Adults?
Slashdot | Programming For Terrified Adults?
Slashdot thread that starts out asking what sort of programming to begin with a grandmother who wants to learn more. Suggestions generally seem to be okay with HTML - although it is not really programming but markup - it does teach structure, spelling and some syntax.
Slashdot thread that starts out asking what sort of programming to begin with a grandmother who wants to learn more. Suggestions generally seem to be okay with HTML - although it is not really programming but markup - it does teach structure, spelling and some syntax.
Joi Ito's Web: Will airtexting BlackBerry become the mobile hecklebot?
Joi Ito's Web: Will airtexting BlackBerry become the mobile hecklebot?
"From the company that pioneered text messaging, picture messaging and multimedia messaging, comes new innovation - Wave Messaging, or Light Messaging, according to a Nokia press release"
"From the company that pioneered text messaging, picture messaging and multimedia messaging, comes new innovation - Wave Messaging, or Light Messaging, according to a Nokia press release"
WotR - Paper, love and glue - mmmm
World of the Rodent - odd site - this has some small models (dolls?) with their own arcade machines, links to jpgs for printing off the nets for folding and making.
WotR - Paper, love and glue - mmmm
WotR - Paper, love and glue - mmmm
