What if software still shipped on 3.5'' disks?

Remember the days when installing a program on your computer required you to use several different floppy disks (usually between 3 and 5) in sequence? Now imagine that CD/DVDs hadn't been invented yet and Internet is still a mirage and you had to install all your programs using these floppy disks that could only store around 1,5 MB. Let's see what that means for current popular programs:

• The "lightweight" browser Firefox - 36 disks
• iTunes - 46 disks
  
• Adobe Photoshop CS4 - 358 disks
• Sims 3 - 1760 disks

Now imagine that you would pile up all these floppy disks. Just for the sake of curiosity, the Sims 3 packaging of 1760 disks would be as tall as 19 feet (more or less 5 and half meters).

Have some more interesting items to add to this list? Comments are welcome!

Retro-blogging: best posts of February 2008

Previously, on "The Tech In Me":

• An hilarious prank video
• Portal: I'm still alive (live)
• How to obfuscate an Hello World program
• Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD: the war is over
• How to create that perfect landmark picture with photoshop
• iCrap: the worst accessories for your iPod
• 3 degrees of Porn
• iPod's Russian Roulette
  
• 10 DIY for the weekend...if you only had the time
• The "working" logo
• iMovie and iDVD: the apps that could be excelent, but aren't
• Avoid Apple Remote's evil twins
• How to burn MP3s to a CD with folders in iTunes
  

Things I've learned from my students

One thing I've learned this year whilst teaching at the University is that, apparently, the probability of having a hard disk failure on your computer is tightly linked to work assignments deadlines.

Let me explain how I reached this conclusion. I teach "Introduction to Programming" and at the end of the semester, the students have to deliver a work assignment. Usually, they have to develop a game in Java and this semester the decision was to implement a simple text-based Minesweeper.

Interestingly, as the deadline was becoming closer, the number of students that come up to me with an excuse to try and get an extension was massively increasing. But the amazing part is the fact that most students used the same excuse: hard disk failure that led to loss of work.

Since all students are honest and could never lie to a professor just to try to get an advantage over their colleagues (let's be naive about it) I can empirically conclude that the following applies:


Needless to say, this didn't change my position and no extensions were given.
It's Murphy's law :-)

Nicholas Negroponte predictions in 1984

Just watch this talk by Nicholas Negroponte and be amazed as most of his predictions (regarding CD-ROMs, web interfaces, service kiosks and touchscreen interfaces) in 1984 were absolutely accurate:

Great Programming Quotes

“Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.”

- Martin Fowler

“Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight.”

- Bill Gates

“Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.”

- Abelson / Sussman

There are more here.

Retro-blogging: best posts of January 2008

Previously, on "The Tech In Me":

• The electronic cigarette
• Internet Explorer users: do not click here
• Why is everyone so bad to the MacBook Air?
• How is technology changing us?
• How to choose a game console?
• From here to there on Google Maps
• After iSketch, Hitler gets into another fiasco with HD-DVD
• The Man From Earth (with a special comment from the producer of the movie)
• Multi-touch trackpad
• Scratched iPod? Bananas to the rescue
• MacWorld 2008: the rumours (funny to see this one now that the rumours are up for MacWorld 2009)
• Another Minority Report-like interface
• A projector for your mobile needs
• Portal: console commands list (one of this blog's most visited posts)
  
• 2007 Software guide
• Truth hurts
• Cloverfield's Monster (my prediction but I was wrong)
• Useless invention of the day
• Internet Explorer's source code
  

Free online flash games

I used to maintain a small list of the cool (and free) online games that I would encounter while stumbling upon the Internet, but since I found this list, I think mine's becoming a bit obsolete :-)

Using your brain to control your computer

Using the brain as a computer interface is not a new idea. For a long time, researchers have been trying to use the electric signals coming from the brain as a way to perform basic commands on a computer and even as an anti-RSI technique. And as the technology is advancing, we get to see nice improvements that may be the key to help people with communication disabilities.

CBS' 60 minutes has made a special report on this kind of technology and here you can see a small segment that shows how the life of a man with a disease that has destroyed all his communication abilities, was greatly improved by using a brain-computer interface.

Magellan: yes, I tested one!

Now that the Magellan Initiative (Magalhães in Portuguese) is set to kick off soon, I used my secret connections to have access to one of these tiny laptops and test the operating system that will probably be included in the new educational gadget.

Don't ask me for details because I cannot divulge anything... for now (as the Portuguese Government hasn't made any final decisions yet). I'll just leave here one of the pictures I took:


Regarding the laptop itself, I was very pleased with it. It's small and made of plastic but then again it's made to be used by small children. It's not as light as it should and, taking in account that kids already have to carry a lot of books to school, they should have looked into that issue. But the top handle is very handy and will allow kids to carry the computer everywhere on their hands instead of their backpack.

When Photoshop Pros have some free time

There's more here.

Would you believe that this is an computer-generated animation?

This is how far computer-generated face animation has come. Check out the video and prepare to be amazed:



Source: Engadget

How to really cool down you Mac (or any other laptop, for that matter)...

I used to work on a glass desk, which always kept my Mac's temperature under control. But ever since I had to change to a wooden desk (the glass one no longer fitted the space in the new room), my Mac started heating up more than it should.

At first, I tried using some leftover pieces of wood to place the Macbook Pro a little higher...that is, to avoid having direct contact with the table.


This helped maintain the computer's temperature a little lower, but doing some CPU intensive tasks (like my PhD simulations) triggered the Macbook's fans to work at its maximum, thus making the aluminium case hot enough to turn it into a nice frying pan where I can make some scrambled eggs.

As I was thinking about following Ikea Hacker's suggestion to use the Lämplig trivet as a cheap laptop stand, a friend of mine that had similar problems with his Asus laptop, recommended using a cooling laptop stand with extra fans that he bought on Amazon. So, I bought the Antec Notebook Cooler.


This nice notebook cooler stand works like a charm. It's very silent (due to having two speed settings - "low" for normal use and "high" for some hardcore cooling) and it's USB-powered, which means that I don't have to carry an extra charger. It is also very light, making it possible to carry everywhere in my laptop bag.

It really keeps my Mac's temperature down, which in the long run means that the hardware will probably last longer. And I know what you're thinking: "But the Macbook Pro only has 2 USB ports and keeping one of them occupied with this might be a waste of USB connectivity". Well, the guys at Antec thought of that too. The very own notebook cooler stand's USB connector is a small USB hub making the USB port still usable for other devices.

Cool, isn't it? (see what I did here?)

Source: The Mac Newbie

Choose your browser wisely

Retro-blogging: best posts of July 2007

Previously, on The Tech In Me:

• Plants that phone when they need to be watered
• It's not the cellphones' fault
• The Wii Workout, at the gym!
• 15 years of SMS
• Vodafone says "no to 3G-less iPhone" - and now that a 3G version of the iPhone is available, iPhone has said yes :-)
  
• The ISPs won't tell on you
• The evolution of cellphones
• Avoid that cable clutter under your desk
  
• 500 GB in one DVD
• Technology can be used for the strangest things
• How to keep your Coke cold while at the computer
  

Pac-Man is everywhere

Ever noticed how so many things in the world seem like Pac-Man?








Source: Fundivision

Do not install Office 2008 for Mac Service Pack 1

Microsoft has recently released the Office 2008 for Mac Service Pack 1, which apparently fixes some of the issues that this Microsoft product presents on the Macintosh platform. However, my experience with it, hasn't been particularly interesting:

1. I installed the SP1 and apparently everything seemed to be working well. Office applications were still behaving in the same way and I didn't notice anything different, except for maybe a slightly improvement in performance, but nothing drastic.
2. But after a while, as my Mac became a bit hot (as it usually does, because of my CPU-intensive activities) the fans started working to compensate for the high temperature. Nothing strange here, except for the fact that suddenly my Mac, that used to be a perfectly silent machine, started making a noise equivalent to a 100 Km/H wind and it literally looked like it was going to take off into the air.
3. After googling this issue for a while, I installed the iStat Pro widget, which reveals the behaviour of the laptop fans (among other things) in real-time. Apparently, the normal behaviour of a Macbook Pro's fans when working at full speed is around 3900/4000 rpms. But after installing SP1 my Mac's fans were now working at a top speed of 6000 rpms. No wonder I thought it was going to take off!
4. I first thought that this was just a coincidence, but to be sure I totally removed Office 2008 (yep, Microsuck doesn't allow you to uninstall only the Service Pack... you have to uninstall the entire Office suite and reinstall it without adding the SP1) and reinstalled it.
5. Surprise, surprise, no more 6000 rpms fans...

I have no proof that Office 2008 SP1 is the responsible for this issue, but it sure is a hell of a coincidence.

Anyway, I'm going to keep on working as usual (with the occasional CPU-intensive tasks) for the rest of the day, to check if the noisy fan issue comes back. If not, tomorrow, I'll install SP1 again and perform another set of experiences with the CPU fans.

Keep tuned for the results!

Retro-blooging: best posts of May 2007

Previously, on the Tech In Me:

• Jobs vs. Gates: face-to-face
• Microsoft Surface: "touching" the computer
• Wii can take you to some angry places
• A flexible TV Screen
• The music industry is killing itself
• Stumble upon the Internet
• Must-have free apps for Ubuntu Users
• VirtuSphere: virtual reality at its best

What if programming languages were...

To define a programming language is never easy. You can describe their syntax/features/capabilities but that doesn't translate in its real potential. In fact, most of the times, the whole is not equal to the sum of its parts. So, what better way to describe the true potential of programming languages than to use clever analogies of the real world.

What if programming languages were...

• ...cars?
• ...women?
• ...celebrities?
• ...boats?
  

Classic video games in animated stop-motion video

If the nostalgic feeling isn't good enough, the amazing work they did to produce this wonderful stop-motion animated video of classic video games will blow you away:



Source: College Humor

Retro-blogging: best posts of March 2007

Previously on the Tech In Me:

• WiPeer: local wireless for laptops
• Learn how to create special effects on Photoshop
• Humans: the weakest link in technology
• The new video game arcade
• An item for the ladies: gadget-recharching purse
• 5 MB, fifty years ago
• People with cellphones are paparazzi's worst nightmare