Category Archives: Technology

Technology

Logic, politics, Social, Technology

tan(005) – Manually syncing iTunes in a protest to protect the State

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State of Man and Conflict, iTunery, protect the State

Not to go on a Tangent but …

Preamble: This is the most politco, socio, humano (humanist) rant yet; but I think I balance it from both sides, so take it in, let me know what you think.

Protests
In Toronto, the Tamil community of Sri Lanka descent have been very vocal about the 20+ year ongoing war going back home in the community; the war has claimed thousands of lives. I get that, and in Western democracies, we allow free protest on issues – as long as those issues don’t impede or jeopardize public safety. So, with that said, protesting on a busy downtown highway, threatening to march on the 401 (one of North America’s busiest highways), and strategically demonstrating during rush hours on busy downtown streets, do two things. First, it really does draw attention to your cause and concern – it definitely draws attention, kudos. However, and most importantly, secondly, it questions logic and foresight of your cause and realism. Take your cause to the Federal government; not the provincial government; if you are really serious about your cause, shut down a major transportation artery in Ottawa or rally on Parliament Hill, not the Gardner Expressway. And my next point, which is a sad state of our world society, well sad state of ‘nations’; the world community usually only intervenes in areas where there is a benefit to them. Meaning, that nations will only sacrifice the lives of their own soldiers if it will return a benefit for them – they will go into Iraq because of the vast resources of oil, but they won’t go into places like the Sudan where genocide is going on for years, because there is NO investment on their return. Put some natural gas or precious metals in Sri Lanka, and the International Community will be quick to intervene.

With that said, I am not saying don’t protest; speak your mind – but I hope the protesters understand the totality of the situation, and hopefully the totality that was expressed here is not the harsh truth.

 

iTunes manual sync
This is random, but I’m a go in anyway – on my iPod Touch, I download a lot of podcasts – just to explore the good and bad of the Internet. Now, when I download the podcasts through the iTunes store on my Touch through a wifi connection, its gravy, with biscuits. But, as soon as I do a MANUAL sync of my Touch with my computer, the downloaded podcasts are sometimes deleted (even though it is on MANUAL sync). Furthermore, the PC version of iTunes doesn’t even see the podcasts that I downloaded via wifi connection to my Touch! Come on iTunes team, test all possible conditions of your software please; as soon as you started locking these things down (remember with the old iPods, you could explore the folders on a PC/Mac) then you introduced a whole lot of problems.

 

Protecting the State
So the Obama administration in an attempt to make good on their campaign promises, somehow bring about the topic of prisoner abuse that occurred during the Bush Administration – I thought this was dealt with a few years ago, but that is besides the point. Now, they are attempting the block of releasing more pictures of the abuse that we all know happened; essentially trying to close Pandora’s box (that they themselves opened). In all this, Cheney has been very vocal in defending the tactics used; going on CNN, Fox, ABC, and a whole slew of news shows to reiterate the fact that the interrogation tactics work, and such tactics have prevented attacks. A side debate on all of this drama, is the argument that the Obama administration should not be releasing this information; as it will fuel further disdain for America across the world. Nothing good for the state can come about the further public exploration of this topic; it was already discussed a few years ago, and we know the ugly truth – we should learn from our mistakes and move on. For the Obama administration to berate the situation like beating a dead horse is asinine, and will not do anything to benefit the American people. Move on, and learn from the mistakes; but don’t further expose your state to public scrutiny that your enemies can use against you … Obama may need to read the book ‘The Art of War’ …

.:: LiBM::.

Technology

Wk in Nerban’s Tech: Google Earth Thugs, Twitter on the High

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Google Earth Thugs, Twitter on the increase, f-bomb video game on the Wii!

Week in Nerban’s Tech March 21, 2009

House of Dead says f-word more than any other video game
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10198183-62.html

– What makes this a story is not only  that they say the F-word a couple of hundred times through out the game; its the fact that this game is on the family-friendly Nintendo Wii Console – talk about irony

Surprise! Google Earth used for robbery
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10196830-71.html

– Got to give these thugs credits for using technology to increase their efficiency in thuggery.

Twitter fastest growing community, according to Nielsen
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/nielsen_twitter_was_fasting_growing_community_last_month.php

– when everyone from every show on CNN started getting their own personal Twitter accounts, and even Larry King is shouting them out, you had to expect that it would explode


Flying car passes first flight test
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/18/1633253

– I am more so upset that we are NOT at this stage already; I seriously, seriously thought that we would be flying already

.:: LiBM ::.

Technology

Nerban’s week in Tech 2009-03-15

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Web turns 20, Venezuelan cell phone for $14

The Web turns 20
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10787_3-10195512-60.html

– Look how far we have gone since 1989, all thanks to our demand for porn
Venezuelan cell phone for $14
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/03/09/venezuela-to-get-a-14-cell-phone/

– Launched by the government of Venezuela for its people; may be equipped with GPS tracking software
NY Times could save money by giving everyone a Kindle
http://www.businessinsider.com/2009/1/printing-the-nyt-costs-twice-as-much-as-sending-every-subscriber-a-free-kindle

– Unfortunately, the newspaper as we know it may be disappearing very soon.


Kutiman Mixes YouTube
http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2009/03/11/kutiman-mixes-youtube/

– Someone has a lot of time on their hands as they have taken sounds from various videos and created a mix video

Technology

Alternate iPhone App Stores

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Touch My Apps

For all those that have jailbreaked iPhones and want to explore the further capabilities of their device, check out:

http://www.touchmyapps.com/

More and more of these stores are appearing to loosen Apple’s monopoly on the control of applications, and to increase the amount of applications that are available, but have been refused entry into Apple’s iTunes store. Apparently, Apple rejects many apps on a daily basis for a multitude of reasons, and if you are a software developer, it can be frustrating to be always getting rejected.

Social, Technology

Nerban’s week in Tech – Google domination and $99 iPhone

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Source: http://metasurfing.blogspot.com

The Nerban’s week in Tech

Week ending Feb 14 2009 – Google drops a whole load of features for Gmail, Google Meter, $99 iPhone

I know you all are digging the dope retro technology picture.  Anyhow, this week in technology for the Nerban sees an affordable iPhone, and Google’s continued pursuit of world domination.  I said it once, and I will say it again, Google offers the best services for the web (email, search, google docs), but Google is essentially an advertising service for companies – they offer free products, and slap adsense wherever possible.  Twitter, take note, as you may need a business model soon, anyway, here are the best links:

Google Sync for mobile devices (iPhone, Symbian OS, Blackberry)
http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2009/02/google-sync-beta-for-iphone-winmo-and.html
– A convenient way to sync your contacts and calendar over the air; another attempt for Cloud computing – looks like it will be better than Apple’s ‘MobileMe’ which just continues to be littered with problems.

Google deleting Blogspot posts with no warning
http://www.laweekly.com/2009-02-05/music/google-39-s-new-killer-app-why-are-music-bloggers-39-posts-disappearing-and-who-is-deleting-them/all
– Even though it is in your TOS, Google is deleting any posts at its will, if you have copyright content such as music or video; specifically from a media company (Universal, Time Warner etc.). The quick way to resolve this, is to self-host your own blog, and don’t rely on Google’s BlogSpot service.

Google Power Meter
http://www.google.org/powermeter/howitworks.htmlhttp://www.google.org/powermeter/howitworks.html
– Another attempt of Google trying to look more ‘green’, but also attempting to get beyond your home computing needs, and monitoring a household’s energy consumption.

Gmail knows where you are
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/new-in-labs-add-your-location-to-your.html
– A Labs feature that tells your recipient where you were when you sent the message … somewhat intrusive, but there may be some use for it, can’t figure out how it could be useful though.

$99 iPhone
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10161368-37.htm
– As everyone is feeling the pressure in this battered economy, Apple posits itself to release an affordable iPhone; if successful, they could go at the neck and take out some cheap alternative smartphone models (HTC, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung)

Mac Clones
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9127579&intsrc=hm_list
– Soon, could we see Dell and other traditional PC manufacturers deliver computers with the Apple Operating System??

Until next week …

Peace,
.:: LiBM ::.

Technology

A look @ the Pre

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A look @ Pre

Many people are excited at the new Palm Pre that was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January ’09. As an avid Palm user, first with the m505, then to the Zire 72, I have witnessed Palm rise in the field of personal digital electronics – for awhile, they were very much the leaders of the class as business people and the average consumer used Palm products to organize their lives and be productive. The Palm was the first device to have an ‘app store’ (like the iTunes store), and developers made a plethora of handy apps for the device. However, eventually the popularity of the iPod and the subsequent iPhone, and the Blackberry, made Palm somewhat obsolete, as Blackberry made smartphones that have great PUSH e-mail and telephone capabilities, while the iPod was a user’s digital media dream as it could play music, video, and store photos. The current line of Palm all support these features, but they hit the bandwagon a little late.

The new Palm Pre (below), however may create some converts: those Blackberry users who don’t like Blackberry’s sometimes difficult interface, and those iPhone users who don’t want to be paying a $100 a month for service. If the Pre can establish itself as a viable alternative from the two, and align itself to the market of the business professional with a social life, then maybe Palm can be saved. However, with an expected retail value of $399; in this recession, Palm will have an uphill battle trying to win consumers from opting with the iPhone 3G at $199 and the Blackberry Bold & Storm at a similar price.

.:: LiBM::.

Technology

Ads are now watching You

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dv2024025

Ads are now watching You

Measuring Advertisement Effectiveness

Starting in January in Japan, an advertising firm will place an interesting piece of technology above an advertisement in a public place.   NTT Communications will use a system to track the effectiveness of ads; a representative said that the system will “… automatically measure the effectiveness of the advertisements we can put a camera and PC nearby, and by using the image from the camera we can estimate how many people are looking at the monitor.”  With facial recognition technology, the system can detect how many people are actually engaged with the advertisement; which is an interesting concept because up to now, advertising rates were based on estimated viewership/traffic in a certain area, this technology could easily change how advertising rates are structured because now, advertising agencies can actually measure the effectiveness of an ad, and can now give accurate number on how many people actually were engaged with a specific advertisement.  The privacy groups will cry foul saying that this is another example of ‘Big Brother’ watching over us, which they may have a valid point, but as long as the technology is only being used to detect faces, and not being transferred to government agencies for other uses, then I say that the technology should flourish as it gies a whole new dynamic to measuring effectiveness of advertisements.

.:: LiBM ::.

Technology

Free the Airwaves (sponsored by AdSense)

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Free the Airwaves
Google’s push from the clouds

If you think that Google is a search engine company, you are sadly mistaken – Google is essentially an advertising agency. Google provides free services such as its search engine, gmail, documents, picasa, and a plethora of others. Google then places ads in their free services through its advertising program named ‘AdSense’; it has proven to be a successful model, and has driven Google’s stock to almost $400 a share.

The web, Google has conquered – hands down. Now Google has its site on not only increasing their market share with web applications, but they are also developing an open source OS platform for wireless devices. Dubbed ‘Android’, this wireless device OS will utilize Google’s technology and will allow Google to stream AdSense ads to mobile devices. Of course, Android will connect with Google’s other established services such as Google Documents (Word, excel), Picasa (photo management), and of course web searching/surfing. The hurdle that Google faces is whether to build their own mobile device or convince established mobile device manufacturers (Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, et cetera) to use their OS. One thing that the Google OS will have to facilitate is heavy data usage; as content/data will all be pushed from the ‘cloud’ to the device. Enter Google’s sponsorship about ‘freeing the airwaves’:

___

From : freetheairwaves.com

About freeing the airwavesOne of America’s most valuable natural resources is our “white spaces” — the radio airwaves, or spectrum, that have long carried analog TV signals. Three-fourths of the white spaces are completely unused today, and — especially once TV is broadcast in digital only starting in 2009 — could be used to kick-start a revolution in wireless technology, including universal wireless online access and numerous new products and services that can’t even be imagined today.

This fall, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will decide whether to make this spectrum available for anyone to use. At Google, we think more open access to the white spaces is essential, not only for companies like ours, but for society in general. But this outcome is far from certain, so we’ve joined a broad coalition of public interest groups and industry peers who are working to convince the FCC to free the airwaves and unleash the next generation of Internet innovation. We hope you’ll add your voice to the debate by signing our petition and helping spread the word about this campaign.
____

No doubt, that Google is interested in new products that can stream its AdSense in the new white spectrum.

For more info, and to voice your concern go to:http://freetheairwaves.com

.:: d.b ::.

Technology, Work

Workplace Etiquette for the Yuppy

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Workplace Etiquette for the Yuppy
Some tips for getting through the day

The Yuppy (Young Urban Professional) is constantly on the go; most times though, the Yuppy needs to resort to a full-time job in order to fund their projects. However, the Yuppy has to be careful and walk that fine line of being productive at work, and being productive for their business. Thus, I thought I would share a few tips with my fellow Yuppielites.

Cycler
alt+tab (windows) OR apple+tab (mac)

You have more important things to do than prepare the 3rd-quarter report, you need to check your gmail and facebook. Instead of making it look bait by using your mouse to click back to the work your supposed to do, using alt+tab on the keyboard quickly changes your active window in a smooth manner.

IT Connect

Your IT Department is one of your greatest resources at work, befriend one of them as they can give you valuable Intel and help. The IT department can grant you special privileges, advise you what sites not to visit, and give you a heads-up on ‘crackdowns’.

Avoiding the IDC Symptom

The IDC symptom can be defined as “I Don’t Care”, and is developed when your co-workers start talking to you about trite details: ‘My kids hockey games’, ‘this boss is incompetent because …’, ‘did you watch that show last night’, and so on. My initial, instinctual response is ‘I really don’t care’, and ‘why are you talking to me’, but since we need this job to generate income and living, we need to avoid the IDC’s. Some common ways to avoid the IDC is:- Smile and nod: very effective, but can be deadly because it implies that you are actually intrigued in the conversation, and it shows that you are engaged.- Hmm, ok, wow: also very effective, alludes to you being not only responsive, but implies that you are listening to their every note and syllable

Outlook
Outlook is the enterprise e-mail application that most businesses use because of its powerful Exchange Server (even though Mozilla Thunderbird is better). I know you may have some documents to work on, and opening up MS Word may seem very suspicious as you may have to do a lot of ‘cycling’, however, Outlook can be used as a word processor and has some useful features such as ‘tasks’ and ‘notes’. Better yet, if you are working on a document, compose it in an e-mail, so that even if someone walks by, it looks like you are composing a work-related email.

Punctuality
This really shouldn’t be a point, but its important that you start on time, and leave on time. Because as with all work environments, there are snitches and informers – don’t give them anything to use against you.

With that said, you are the future of tomorrow, get ahead today … at work.

.:: d.b ::.

Health, Social, Technology

Masdar City

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Masdar City
The Green City in an Oil Rich Country

The project is headed by the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (ADFEC). Initiated in 2006, the project is projected to cost US$22 billion and take some eight years to build, with the first phase scheduled to be complete and habitable in 2009. The city will cover 6 square kilometres (2.3 sq mi) on a site 6.4 km² (2.5 sq mi) in size and will be home to 50,000 people and 1,500 businesses, primarily commercial and manufacturing facilities specialising in environmentally-friendly products, and an expected 40,000 workers will commute to the city daily. It will also be the location of a university, the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST), which will be assisted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Automobiles will be banned within the city; travel will be accomplished via public mass transit and personal rapid transit systems, with existing road- and railways connecting to other locations outside the city.

Masdar City will be the latest of a small number of highly planned, specialized, research and technology-intensive municipalities that incorporate a living environment, similar to Novosibirsk, Russia or Tsukuba Science City, Japan.

Renewable Resources

Masdar will employ a variety of renewable power sources. Among the first construction projects will be a 40 to 60 megawatt solar power plant, built by the German firm Conergy, which will supply power for all other construction activity. This will later be followed by a larger facility, and additional photovoltaic modules will be placed on rooftops to provide supplemental solar energy totalling 130 megawatts. Wind farms will be established outside the city’s perimeter capable of producing up to 20 megawatts, and the city intends to utilise geothermal power as well. In addition, Masdar plans to host the world’s largest hydrogen power plant.

Water management has been planned in an environmentally-sound manner as well. A solar-powered desalination plant will be used to provide the city’s water needs, which is stated to be 60 percent lower than similarly sized communities. Approximately 80 percent of the water used will be recycled and waste water will be reused “as many times as possible,” with this so-called greywater being used for crop irrigation and other purposes.

The city will also attempt to reduce waste to zero. Biological waste will be used to create nutrient-rich soil and fertiliser, and some may also be utilised through waste incineration as an additional power source. Industrial waste, such as plastics and metals, will be recycled or repurposed for other uses.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masdar_City

.:: d.b ::.

Isn’t it messed that one of the world’s richest oil nations is taking this green initiative, while nations such as the United States have not even considered taking on such a project?

Technology

BMW GINA

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BMW GINA

The car with skins. An interesting approach to where the automobile may be going.

“With the development of the BMW GINA Light Visionary Model the BMW Group presents trendsetting solutions. Chris Bangle gives us a first impression of the ideas behind the process of sculpturing an experimental study. “