The Mac in Me

I'm officially now a Mac Switcher. My MacBook Pro has finally arrived and I will now enter the realm of Apple. It's my first experience at it and I bet I'll feel strange at the beginning after so many years of being a Windows user but hopefully I won't regret this decision.

It might take some time now to come back to regular posts on this blog. It will depend on my level of adaptation to the new Operating System :-)

If you're curious about my experience, check out my new blog, dedicated to all Mac Newbies out there.

Wish me luck...

RSS Feed Update

Hello! Just wanted to update you that this blog's feed is now hosted on FeedBurner. Please update your RSS reader with the new RSS feed address.

Thanks for reading :-)

Blue Screen: Apple's Leopard has it too

Apparently, the BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) is not a Microsoft's exclusive. Recent reports of users that tried to upgrade to the new version of Mac OS X, Leopard, point out to a very annoying Blue Screen freezing problem on the installation process.

In fact, Apple has acknowledged that there are some problems with the installation of their new operating system. But they point out that the problem may be related to APE (Application Enhancer). So, if you're trying to upgrade to Leopard and you are faced with the BSOD, follow Apple's instructions for booting into single-user mode to remove the offending software.

The fact that this seems to occur only to users that are trying to "update" instead of making a clean install, rises the everlasting doubt: should we upgrade or clean install our operating systems?

There seems to be a general opinion (mine included) that "clean installs" are always safer, mainly because "upgrading" is the installation method which will most likely leave files in the system that are incompatible with the new OS. Hence, unless users have the necessary tech knowledge to know which files will cause incompatibilities with the new OS, it's always better to perform a "clean install".

But still, "upgrading" has a very compelling argument: you get to keep your personal files - no need to retrieve them from boring, lenghtly and difficult backups. Anyway, Leopard will probably be the last "clean install", you'll ever make as the new "Time machine" feature in Leopard seems to be a work of art when it comes to backing up your data. It is simple and easy to use and it works on the background as if it wasn't even there. The simplicity of it all is even more evident when you plug in an external hard drive. And in the end with all your data easily backed up and manageable on a external hard drive, upgrading to a new version of the OS is a piece of cake.

Installation problems aside, it is also a general opinion that Leopard is a great advancement comparing to its previous version, Tiger, but not as mind-blowing as it should. And that leads to the obvious question: is it better to make smaller but constant improvements on the OS (as Apple has done in the last five years with constant updates of Mac OS X) or to make giant leaps that can totally change the view that people have of their OS (as Microsoft did from 98 to XP and now to Vista)?

What's your opinion?

Geek thought of the day

If only we could use computer shortcuts in real life...CTRL+Z would come in handy sometimes.

Your mobile phone as QR-Code reader

Hello, if you liked this post, please consider subscribing my RSS news feed. Thanks.

QR-Codes, the popular Japanese 2D bar code technology, can now be used on mobile phones. For those of you who don't know what a QR-code is, I'll give you a little example:

This strange-looking figure is in fact a complex storage system that allows to encode data in a picture. In this example, reading this QR-code will give you access to this blog. How? Simple, the disposition of these black dots on the diagram can be scanned and translated to text, which in this case, translates to a URL: http://tonyvirtual.blogspot.com
This kind of technology is quite common in Japan and it can be seen in the manufacturing of cars (to allow robots to identify the parts that need to be assembled), in supermarkets (to allow people to read more information on the products they want to buy) or in museums (to allow visitors to have access to more information on an exposition).
This technology is now available for mobile phones and it's incredibly fast and easy to use. I tested with my Nokia N80 and it worked perfectly.
If you want to install a QR-code reader on your cellphone, check this site (make sure your cellphone is supported, remember this only works for camera-enabled phones)
Once you've installed the software on your phone, test it with this code I have here:

I can only say it's a funny joke :-)
Are you wondering how I created the QR-codes for this post? Easy, there are a lot of QR-code generators available here, here, here and here.
Enjoy!
UPDATE: it has come to my attention that RSS readers may not be able to see the pictures on this post (depending on the RSS reader that you're using), so just in case, use the direct link.

Geek thought of the day

The only cool thing about having asthma is that every now and then, you sound like Darth Vader

The GMail/IMAP hype: Buaahhh, I want mine

I still don't have access to the IMAP extra feature on GMail's settings. But on the words of GMail's "What's new" section: "Don't fret if you don't see IMAP Access yet under the Settings menu. We're rolling it out to everyone over the next few days."

Was it really worth it for Radiohead?

So Radiohead decided to "take out the middleman" and put their latest album directly available on the Internet. Furthermore, they let fans decide how much to pay for it. Was this really a good idea? Definitely a good idea for us, the fans. Pay less, get more.

But what about Radiohead? Was this really worth it for them? Well, the latest numbers on the digital selling say that in average each person paid $5 (around 3.5€) for the album. The problem seems to be that Radiohead in general receive $6 (around 4.2€) for each album sold in the "old" business model.

So, taking into account that the $5 share they get on the digital business model is not the final value they receive (since there are still some people they need to pay like webmasters, web designers and production studios) I would say Radiohead are taking a big leap of faith with this choice.

The question is now this: did they do this because they thought that they were going to get more money or did they do this for the fans, to allow us to get access to their art for less money?

I wonder if other musicians will follow their lead, now that the truth has been revealed...

Interesting concept for cars' doors

Here's a concept of disappearing doors for cars. It's really interesting and definitely suitable for tight parking spaces :-)

Enjoy the video:

TED Talks: amazing ideas

I'm a huge fan of the TED Talks and every now and then I check the website to see if new talks were added. If you still don't know what these are, a visit is mandatory.

Here are some of the last talks I've seen, which I think are really interesting:
- BumpTop Desktop
- DNA Misteries
- A Brain Theory
- Mobile phones and us
- Statistics can be fun
- PhotoSynth
- Plug-in Revolution

IMAP support for GMail?

I'm one of those people that need my e-mail to be available in different computers, so I ended up being a huge fan of IMAP. I use it for my work e-mail addresses but not for GMail, since it's not supported.

When it came to my attention that GMail was now offering IMAP support to some users, I "ran" to the GMail website to check it out. Sadly, I was not one of the few chosen ones to have the experimental IMAP support.

Anyone out there was lucky enough to have it? Care to comment on it? Does it work as expected?

Firefox 3 to have that "native" look

Mozilla is aiming to make Firefox 3 very native-friendly, when it comes to visual integration, as users will be able to have Firefox integrated with the look of their own operating system.

Fitting in to the visual appearance of the native operating system may seem like a reasonably obvious decision, but it certainly isn’t one that every cross-platform application or windowing toolkit makes. And you can easily understand why: this means extra work for developing different versions of the software to fit different operating systems' visual aspects.



In some environments this is not an easy task. In Windows XP, Vista and Max OS X it's easy to create a visual appearance that will be apreciated by (most of) all users of those operating systems. But what about Linux? With so many different distributions, which look should be used for Firefox?

Anyway, it's good to see that Mozilla is working to satisfy most users and make them feel at home with their excellent browsing experience.

Can't wait for version 3 :-)

Source: Mozilla's Alex Faaborg

E-paper now in color

In 2003, while finalists of the Descartes Prize for European Research Excellence, we (the Agentcities team) lost the competition because the Cambridge University, in association with Phillips and other researchers, developed the first ever rough version of e-paper. We were glad to just be a part of the finalists' list, but it was clear that their inovation was the most futuristic and appealing of all the finalists' work.

Now, this technology has come a long way and Bridgestone is showing a new version of e-paper that is able to display 4,096 colors on an eight-inch display. Also, they're stating that they are already working on a 21-inch display for this technology.

Do you know what this means? Thinner laptops/monitors/portable gaming consoles...or even interactive newspapers... endless possibilities!

Geo-tagging on Apple's Leopard

According to the list of features of the new Apple's OS X version, Leopard will have GPS Metadata support for photos. For example, if your image has embedded GPS metadata, Preview will show you exactly where that photo was taken.

By opening the Image inspector and selecting GPS, you'll be able to pinpoint the location where you took the photo on a world map. From there you can even open the GPS location in Google Maps.

Source: CNET

"Smile" for the picture

Don't you hate when people ask you to smile for a picture and then they take around 5-7 seconds to actually take the picture? After 1 or 2 seconds your smile will already look fake.

Wouldn't it be great if there was a camera that could take a picture exactly when you are smiling? Well, that was exactly what Sony did with its new model Cybershot DSC-T200, equipped with "smile shutter". Whenever Face Detection finds a face, this "smile shutter" mode can spot a smile. Simply activate Smile Shutter, and the camera takes a picture automatically.

To detect the different degrees of smiles by subject, you can even set the smile level sensitivity to “high” (to detect a faint smile), “medium” (for a normal smile), or “low” (for a hearty laugh). If there are several subjects in the frame, you can use the touch screen to specify the smiling face you want to take as the main subject.

This is excellent for those parents who want a picture of their baby smiling but he/she only does it for a brief second, which makes it very difficult to catch.

Check out the demo video:



Source: Walyou

Cellphones on a plane

While U.S. citizens are getting arrested for using cellphones on "flight mode" during flights, Europe is getting closer to allowing in-flight cellphone use, as EU regulators are recommending a new proposal for mounting sattelite-linked cells on passenger compartments of airplanes.

This will allow for passengers to have access to at least SMS services while in a flight without interfering with the airplane's electrical instruments. Initially, the system will only support 2G connections but if successful, it can later be upgraded to 3G.

Of course, this still has a long way to go, since airlines have to be willing to implement such systems, individual countries have to approve these new regulations and we have to hope that the prices won't be ridiculous, such as 5€ for sending an SMS.

Sources: Engadget and BBC News

Looking for some screenshots of Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac?

They're available here. And it's interesting to see that this version of Office for Mac "looks nicer" than the 2007 version for PCs :-)

iPhone available in Portugal?

The iPhone is apparently available in Portugal for 781€. Check it out here (in Portuguese).
However, this is somehow suspicious as it says that the software is only available in English or Spanish and no word is given on the connectivity to Portuguese phone carriers. Will it be open or restricted?

Really strange...

Ubuntu Fans, Gutsy Gibbon distribution is here

Download away..have fun!

Free electricity?

Check out this video:



Is this actually true? Does the phone line have some free electricity that we can use? And how powerful is it? It sure is interesting.

Source: Blogmond

Projector/Cellphone Concept

Nowadays we see so many ideas and concepts that are interesting, but most of them never become real products and see the light of day.

I sure hope this (or some adaptation) is pushed up for production because even though the idea is simple, it is just fabulous.

The Projector/Cellphone concept is based on the idea that this small device can act both as a cellphone with a normal display and a small projector that can be used on any flat surface.

So now, instead of having people grouping together around a ridiculously small display to see some after-party photos, people can just gather at the nearest wall and have a look at the photos at more suitable display size.

This other picture is more revealing:

















Source: TechBlogger

Now this is a volume display for your living room Hi-Fi equipment

Check out what this guy created to emulate a volume display using fire.

Who says Linux cannot be sexy?

Ever heard of Linux Kama Sutra? Here's some examples:

Mounting the Hard Drive











Patching the Kernel

Mac OS X Leopard for $10: Update

Apparently, Leopard OS will be available for $10 for people who have bought their Macs after October 1st (if Leopard is not already installed on it).

Saddly, the offer only applies to US and Canadian Costumers :-(

Nokia S60: the iPhone's evil twin

Nokia is not ashamed to say that Apple has done a great job and that the iPhone is a brilliant piece of technology. That is exactly why they picked the best of the iPhone and lift it up a notch (like for example adding a stylus for when the interface is not suitable enough for the fingers to be used).

Check out the demo video below:

Isaac Asimov's Best Story

Every now and then I wonder about the Beginning: what led us here? Who/What created the Universe? Of course this curiosity is related to the fact that I'm a researcher on Artificial Intelligence but as a Human Being I feel puzzled with these questions and I seek answers.

I've read some theories about the origins of the Universe. It's very intriging since ultimately it is all based on the Big Bang and it's hard to believe that this huge explosion came out of "nothing".

Physicists say the Universe is expanding and that, at some point, it will reach it's "maximum" and then will shrink into "nothing" again. And will the Big Bang occur again, leading to a new Universe? Maybe, if the same conditions apply for the creation of such an explosion. But who/what creates the conditions for that explosion to occur? There has to be something. According to laws of Physics, there cannot be effect without cause.

This makes us wonder: Is Life a consequence of the creation of the Universe, or is the Universe the consequence of (intelligent) Life? If the Universe is in fact the consequence of an Intelligent Being, then is it possible that we are the sole responsibles for the creation of the next Universe?

It's this theory of consecutive Universes that is supported by so many physicists and that is the corolary of Isaac Asimov's best story ever written (in my humble opinion): The Last Question.

After the "Last Question" has been answered, a new "Last Question" arises: Who/What created the first Universe, the "meta-Universe" that created the conditions for Intelligent Life to be created and thus garanteed the creation of the next Universe and so forth?

Read it and give me your opinion.

Leopard has arrived at Apple Store

That's right! When the Apple Store was down for a few hours this morning, the suspicious was in the air and now the rumours are off: Leopard has arrived!

The new version of the Mac OS X is available here. Ok, it's still a pre-order but it will be available on October, 26th.

When you work too much on a computer...

...this is what you get. For the last 3 months I've been reading a lot of research papers to make a state of the art review of work in my PhD research area. Almost 99% of these papers are in PDF format and I read them directly on the computer, basically because it is a lot easier to organise the reading this way and also to have a clean desk.

When I had to read one in real paper and needed to search for a specific term that would appear on the text, I stood for at least 5 seconds pressing the CTRL+F keys on the computer and wondering why no search box would appear on the paper.

Needless to say, I had to go get some tissues to wipe my eyes to help stop the laughing that lasted for long minutes. Thankfully, no one was watching.

Because of these situations, it is important to give yourself a break every once in a while. With this in mind, a team of researchers at Tufts University has developed a head adornment which can determine when you've been overly stressed, bored or simply numb to the world around you when using your computer.

This karate kid-like headband monitors brain blood flow and judges how intense one's workload is. Depending on the measures, this gadget can advice you to get some rest or to really just drop off the Internet and start working :-)

And what about you? How do you deal with too much computer time? What are you suggestions for anti-RSI?

"GooTube" is testing anti-piracy tools

Google has announced that it will test a new anti-piracy tool on YouTube to help detect video uploads of copyrighted material. The newly developed software identifies pirated video on YouTube as it gets uploaded, but the system puts the burden on movie studios and other content owners to provide YouTube copies of the content first.

The reason for this is that the anti-piracy tool uses a comparison method between the uploaded video and the previously provided copyrighted material, so as to find similarities that would prevent the video from being publicly available.

However, content providers can actually decide whether or not content can be duplicated and in what terms. For example, a content owner while providing the video to YouTube can specify whether he wants to block anyone else from uploading copies of it, or can also ask YouTube to allow others to post it and put ads next to it.

Source: CNET News.com

One Widget API to rule them all?

Netvibes' Widgets can now be used on almost all platforms. Netvibes' Widget API is taking a first step on the direction of merging all widget APIs and is actually becoming the "universal" widget API.

For now, the offer on "universal" widgets is still limited, as only around 1000 of the more than 90,000 widgets available can be used on iGoogle, Apple Dashboard, Opera, Windows Vista and Windows Live. But soon, a great percentage of the Netvibes widgets will be available on this universal format.

Also, support for Yahoo Widgets is expected to be included in the future.

Source: CNet News.com

Retro-Blogging: Best posts of October 2006

Previously on "The Tech In Me":

• Google Maps on your phone - How to view Google Maps on your cellphone
  
• New short-range wireless standard - Wibree was starting to get discussed
  
• Fading Windows with Jedi Concentrate - A nice application to help you concentrate on specific windows
  
• Multi-touch Interface Screens - The beginning of Perceptive Pixel
  
• Invisible Clothing - Futuristic clothing that allows you to stay invisible-ish
• Google Code Search - Search for millions of lines of code in C++, Java, PHP and other languages
• Google will buy YouTube? - when the rumours started
• Online Media Converter - Convert multimedia files between formats
• J2ME Polish - Java Mobile Programming made easy
• McDonald's and Coca-Cola's MP3 Players "play" malware - When two of the world's largest companies join together to bring malware to the world
• "GooTube" won't be the next Napster - Google's naive view of YouTube copyright problems
• A Trojan that keeps you safe from virus? - The world was shocked at this "benevolent virus"
• Wireless Internet for free on Lisbon's parks - Lisbon just got greener for the Internet Geeks
  

Drug Dealers vs. Software Developers

Ever noticed how Drug Dealers are remarkably similar to Software Developers (and vice-versa)?

Drug dealers	Software developers
Refer to their clients as "users".	Refer to their clients as "users".
"The first one's free!"	"Download a free trial version...
Realize that there's tons of cash in the 14- to 25-year-old market.	Realize that there's tons of cash in the 14- to 25-year-old market.

Read more >> Options >>

There's more comparisons here.

A post of procrastination

I bet any PhD students that are reading this are saying: "Oh man, I feel ya! I reeeeealy feel ya!"

Source: BoingBoing

"Flight mode" is not good enough to avoid iPhone users getting arrested

It seems that some flight attendants are not very confortable on people using their iPhones during flights, even if on "flight mode". An iPhone user was detained for refusing to turn off his iPhone during a flight, because he was using it on "airplane mode", which restricts any communication features of the cellphone. He believed he wasn't breaking any rules because these special modes are created exactly to avoid that any harm is caused by the cellphone while it is being used on an airplane.

The problem lies on the fact that flight companies (and specially their employees, such as flight attendants) lack the knowledge that these special modes exist and do not cause any harm to the flight operation.

This reminds me of a little story that happened to me:

I travel quite a lot due to international conferences and project meetings and I never had any problems using devices on "flight mode" on airplanes.

Well, at least with flight attendants... The only problem I had, was actually a passenger that asked me if I had the time, and I showed her my cellphone (which was on "flight mode") and she started yelling (well, she was Italian, it was not yelling but you know how they can be quite volumous when talking :-) ): "You can't have your cellphone on. It's against the law".

I then spent 10 minutes telling her the difference between "flight mode" and normal mode and why the rules apply to the electric-magnetic fields and not the devices themselves, so it's okay to use the devices as long as the "communication features" are off. Soon enough she was asking me to check if her cellphone had that kind of functionality and if she could use on the flight :-)

I think the long talk with her didn't work, because every time the airplane reached some turbulence, she would give me that suspicious look to see if I was using the phone, kind of like she was saying: "it's your cellphone that's causing this turbulence!"

If it wasn't for my iPod and laptop I could have never survived the 25-hour flights to Hawai'i. Luckly, there's "flight mode" on devices :-)

For the religious MP3 fans

No room on your neck for an MP3 player and a religious cross necklace? No problem, you can have both with just one device.

This newly-introduced MP3 player is quite well-equipped and it suits those aiming for a religious fashion look without having to give up the music entertainment potential.

The small device comes with 4GB of internal memory, a two-color LCD, built-in speaker, FM tuner, integrated mic and seven equalizer modes.

Source: Engadget

Why pay a few hundred dollars for an iPhone, when you can get a GPhone for free?

Here's a nice rumour: it seems that Google will be launching a mobile device based on a ad-supported business model, which basically means that users will be able to use the phone for free as long as they are willing to view some ads while doing so.

Google has already shown a prototype to device manufacturers and network operators but it looks like this device will not see the light of day for a long time.

Now the question remains: is this a good business model? I don't know if I would be willing to listen to an ad before I wanted to make a call, or having to skip through uncountless ads before I can read each feed.

Have your saying: would you accept this kind of business model in a mobile device?


Source: ComputerWorld

Use "Around View" to achieve better parking

Nissan is releasing this month in Japan a new technology that can really help some clumsy people achieve better parking. The "Around View" technology uses four strategically-placed 180-degree cameras to capture and reproduce an accurate view of the field around the vehicle, thus helping people getting their car in tough places without knocking off some rear-view side-mirrors.

Curious about how this works? Have a look at this video:



Source: Engadget

3rd-party apps for iPod Touch is now an easy task

When Apple released the 1.1.1 firmware, 3rd-party apps stopped working for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Even though some hackers were then abble to find a solution for this, it was still quite a geek move as it needed quite a lot of expertise to get it up and running.

Now, a 13-year-old hacker has developed iJailBreak, an automated program that would let you run third-party applications on an iPod Touch without having to take a computer science class.

However, some limitations apply. As posted on a thread in MacRumors Forum, it only works for iPod Touch (no luck for iPhone users) and only for Intel-based Mac's users.

Infinite Gmail addresses

Maybe this is not new for some of you, but I just found out the most amazing thing about Gmail: you can have infinite Gmail addresses based on your own Gmail address.

The technique is simple: add anything you want after your Gmail by adding a '+' sign and you'll receive it on your regular account.
Example: my Gmail is antonio.lopes@gmail.com. If I want to have my work mail organized in a certain way, I just tell my colleagues to send any mails to antonio.lopes+work@gmail.com. Simple, right?

Then, all you have to do is manage your labels on GMail and add filters* according to the addresses that you create, to have your mail all tidy up and organized.

Imagine the possibilities:

• I can receive all my work mail on antonio.lopes+work@gmail.com
• I can register on potential spammers sites with antonio.lopes+potential.spammer@gmail.com
• I can show a girl how special she is by giving her my custom address antonio.lopes+just.for.you.girls-name@gmail.com

By the way, any comments on this particular post can be redirected to:
antonio.lopes+post.on.gmail.infinite.addresses@gmail.com

Any comments on the blog in general can be sent to:
antonio.lopes+youve.got.a.great.blog@gmail.com or antonio.lopes+your.blog.sucks@gmail.com

Enjoy :-)

* To access your filters go to Settings->Filters and create a filter for messages addressed to a particular address and then add a label accordingly

Need a quick way to create a PDF out of your RSS feed?

I recently needed to create a small example of my posts on one of my blogs and had to create a document for offline access (read paper).

Being a bit lazy for copy-pasting the selected posts one-by-one to a Word document and then create a PDF out of it, I decided to google my needs.

Surprise, surprise: RSS2PDF does just the trick. Just drop the RSS's URL and click "Make PDF". It's not perfect (since it doesn't include images or HTML formatting) but it's quite good for creating a PDF with your posts, bookmarks and direct links to the Internet (which sadly didn't work on the paper version of the PDF).

Mobile Firefox coming on 2008?

Finally, Mozilla is working on providing a mobile version of its popular open-source web browser, Firefox. No word as to when this will actually be available, but it should be sometime around 2008. The delay is obviously due to the amount of different versions that have to be created so as to cover most of the major cellphone brands.

Since I have a WiFi enabled cellphone, I actually use it quite often to access the internet, especially to read some feeds on the mobile version of Google Reader. I'm also a big fan of Firefox and its extensions and I can't wait to have a mobile version of it running on my cellphone.

Source: Channel Web Network

"Locate" your YouTube videos

Google allows you to watch YouTube videos directly through the well-known sattelite mapping software, Google Earth, as long as videos are geo-tagged.

To access this new layer, just click on the "YouTube" button on the "Featured Content" folder on the left side of Google Earth.

Soon enough, YouTube icons will start appearing all over the "planet". If not enough videos are available, try zooming in and more videos should appear.

Source: Google LatLong

McDonald's and Free WiFi: a dangerous combination

If the United Kingdom government was thinking about implementing strong measures against obesity and related problems, I think they've just lost the war.

All McDonald's restaurants in the UK will be offering Free WiFi to their costumers, thus turning into the country's largest free wireless internet provider.

No news as to when this will actually happen, but rest assure their kids won't get any slimmer soon.

EDIT 1: After Carlos Serrão pointed out that in Portugal, McDonald's restaurants are also offering free WiFi, I went check it out on McDonald's Portuguese site and it's true. Why wasn't this on the news?

EDIT 2: Indeed it's on the news: Portuguese McDonald's is the pioneer in offering free WiFi access to its costumers (in Portuguese only so far).

Source: Engadget

The universe was about to collapse...

Yesterday, for brief minutes I thought the universe was about to collapse. Let me explain...

I arrived home at around 19:30 (GMT) and needed to check something on GMail. To my surprise, I got a "connection taking too long" kind of error, which is not normal. At first I just thought it was an Internet glitch in my router or ISP since neither Google.com or reader.google.com or www.youtube.com would work but quickly discovered that I could access every other resource on the Internet other than these 3 that I point out.

OMG, Google's down? Youtube's DOWN?? "Al Qaeda went too far this time", so I thought!

Soon enough, Google and YouTube were back up and everything was back to normal. But for those brief minutes I felt something really strange... Have I reached the bottom as an Internet Junkie?

I think I'm checking in on rehab...

A new way to make music

iPod comparison chart

Can anybody explain this?

The ultimate post for on-line resources

Here's the most useful post of all times: more than 5000 resources to do just about anything on-line.

Using the same mouse and keyboard for different computers

If you use several different computers at your desk and you're tired of having to change mouses and keyboards every time you need to operate a different computer, then check out this application: Synergy.

From the authors:

"Synergy lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, each with its own display, without special hardware. It's intended for users with multiple computers on their desk since each system uses its own monitor(s). Redirecting the mouse and keyboard is as simple as moving the mouse off the edge of your screen. Synergy also merges the clipboards of all the systems into one, allowing cut-and-paste between systems. Furthermore, it synchronizes screen savers so they all start and stop together and, if screen locking is enabled, only one screen requires a password to unlock them all."

The software is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

The Miracle Energy device?

This is what British researchers are calling this new device for heating up water: the miracle tube. They are calling it this, because it seems that it can generate more heat comparatively to the energy that it consumes.

It sounds too good to be true, but apparently it is. Not to mention the fact that it violates almost every known law of physics.

Even the makers of the device are at a loss to explain exactly how it works - but skeptical independent scientists carried out their own tests and discovered that the tube really does produce more heat energy than the electrical energy put in.

This basically means that it can create energy out of "nothing".

For now, the researchers are making further testing to make sure the device is safe. Also they need to adapt it for domestic use, but once this is out on the market it can cut house heating bills to half.

Source: The Mail on Sunday

GPS on the iPhone?

For those with an iPhone, there's a new 3rd-party application that you can use on your iPhone to "emulate" GPS positioning, based on your cell-phone tower connection.

From MacRumors:

"Navizon uses cell phone towers to pinpoint your location (within a few hundred yards) and is able to push those coordinates to the Google Maps application."

Source: MacRumors

USB 3.0: 10 times faster than USB 2.0

That's right, USB 3.0 is coming and it will be 10 times faster than USB 2.0. And how exactly are they able to do that?

Well, USB 3.0 improves upon its successors by adding fiber-optic cable alongside the copper wiring, greatly increasing the speeds. This will allow increasing the sending data rate from 480 megabits per second (USB 2.0 standard) to a whopping 4.8 gigabits per second.

The bad news is that this new technology should start being used in devices around 2009 or 2010.

Source: SciFi.com

Wanna know where's a WiFi signal but don't want to carry your device around?

Are you usually interested in looking for an available WiFi connection, but just don't always want to carry the computer around? Then you should check out this shirt.

It's an animated shirt with a WiFi connection detector that runs on 3 AAA batteries (couldn't figure out where the batteries go into though) for "hours".

It's on sale for $30 (around 21€) on ThinkGeek.

Source: Engadget