Mac Mini - The Best Carputer ?

The wikipedia definition of the carputer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carputer



Every normal person wants a full computer built into their car, correct?
You want to play CDs, DVDs, MP3s and surf the web. You want a small box with a simple touch screen interface, a GUI that looks good on a small screen, remote control, gps satnav, bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections. You want all this for around £500. It looks like the intel mac mini with built-in frontrow software may fit the bill perfectly:

With the introduction of Apple's Mac mini, a whole new realm of inexpensive in-car computing and entertainment is now possible. The small form factor of the Mac mini makes it a perfect solution for installation in areas with limited space - like a car. The robust feature set of the Mac mini, along with the multi-media power of Mac OS X, makes for an excellent platform to create a complete mobile media system. - macvroom.com

Mac Mini:
http://www.apple.com/macmini/
Apple Frontrow and remote:
http://www.apple.com/imac/frontrow.html
OSX Dashboard Widgets:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/dashboard/
mac gps satnav software:
http://www.routebuddy.com/
Garmin bluetooth GPS revceiver:
http://www.garmin.com/products/gps10/
controllers:
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/powermate/
http://www.apple.com/keyboard/
screen:
http://www.xenarc.com/product/700ts.html

More info and build instructions:
http://gthing.net/carputer-5-final/

Mac your ride:
http://www.macvroom.com/

more mac mini installations:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zapwizard/sets/72057594054134962/show/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/contentrobot/sets/72057594104561770/show/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37009071@N00/sets/1645157/show/

As a comparison this windows based carputer unit just looks nasty. I'm no mac fanboy but Windows XP does not 'pimp' anything:


However the main advantage of the mac mini over the above monstrosity is that when you get bored of having a carputer you can just pull it out and use it as a normal desktop machine.

The Digg Swarm - The coolest way to view digg.com

The coolest way to view digg is via the swarm:
http://labs.digg.com/swarm/

In real time you can see who is digging what stories. Stories grow as they get more diggs and elastic connections are made between stories as diggers move between them.

Diggers are solid yellow blobs that grow larger as that user diggs more stories. Hover over the blob to see that user's name and click on the blob to go to that user's digg history.

Stories with a large number of diggs are yellow circles. Upcoming stories are white circles. The circles grow as users digg them. Hover over the circle to see the story title. Click on the circle to see a story summary and link to the story page.

When a digger just diggs every upcoming story he finds he becomes a fat bloated yellow blob and ties together a bunch of insignificant stories in a big clump:


The best way to sift through all the upcoming stories is to use the cloud view:
http://digg.com/news/upcoming/cloud/

Shopify - simple web 2.0 ecommerce

Cheaper, simpler and more customisable that previous hosted e-commerce systems.



Create a store with a few clicks, free hosting (only charge is 3% per transaction), use paypal or any credit card gateway, works in 60 countries (tax, shipping, currencies and languages all built-in). It has may pre-built themes that you can customise or you can create your own theme. Themes produce pages based on xhtml/css web standards.

Screenshots:
http://shopify.com/screenshots/
About:
http://shopify.com/pressroom/
Signup:
http://app.shopify.com/services/signup

Web 2.0 - 24 months in

After about 24 months of web 2.0 this is what wikipedia makes of it all:

Web 2.0, a phrase coined by O'Reilly Media in 2004,[1] refers to a perceived or proposed second generation of Internet-based services—such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies—that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users. O'Reilly Media, in collaboration with MediaLive International, used the phrase as a title for a series of conferences, and since 2004 some members of certain technical and marketing communities have adopted and loosely adapted the phrase.
While interested parties continue to debate the definition of a Web 2.0 application, a Web 2.0 web-site may exhibit some basic characteristics. These might include:

* "Network as platform" — delivering (and allowing users to use) applications entirely through a browser. See also Web operating system.
* Users owning the data on the site and exercising control over that data.
* An architecture of participation and democracy that encourages users to add value to the application as they use it.
* A rich, interactive, user-friendly interface based on Ajax or similar frameworks.
* Some social-networking aspects.

The concept of Web-as-participation-platform captures many of these characteristics. Bart Decrem, founder and former CEO of Flock calls Web 2.0 the "participatory Web"[citation needed], and regards Web-as-information-source as Web 1.0.

Full article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2

Gun That Can Shoot Round Corners

The front section can be bent up to 60° to the left or the right, allowing a soldier to shoot around a wall or door without exposing any part of themselves to enemy fire.

The weapon is comprised of a handgun fitted to the front of the system and fired from the back section using an ordinary trigger. A video camera at the front is linked to a small high-resolution screen at the back. This lets the user see precisely where the gun is pointing without poking their head or hands out in the firing line.

The camera incorporates crosshairs, auto-focus and an infrared filter for use in low light. Pulling a grip underneath the weapon quickly snaps it from its bent configuration into a straight one, meaning it can then be used normally.

more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornershot

Dubai - Before and After

1990:


2003:


Current Construction:



Future Marina and Waterfront:


Future DubaiLand Theme Park:


Future Sports Park:


Future Palm Islands:


Islands on google maps here.

Future Towers:






Dubai Info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai

Grindhouse - Tarantino Vs Rodriguez

Tarantino and Rodriguez decided to produce two movies to be released on one bill:





More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grind_House
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462322/
http://www.grindhousemovie.net/

IGN's Top 50 Lost Loose Ends

http://uk.tv.ign.com/articles/745/745595p1.html

Rocky Balboa !

Let's start building some hurtin bombs:



Rocky Blog:
http://rockybalboablog.blogspot.com/

The Classic:
http://www.movie-list.com/r/rocky3.html

Cool Flash Animation

Design your own:
http://roxik.com/pictaps/

Drag and drop toy:
http://roxik.com/toy1.html

Vox - The Free New Hosted Blogging System

Vox is a new free hosted blogging system similar to typepad, blogger and wordpress.

It has many unique features including: social networking, photo/video sharing and tagging. However at the moment you can not design your own themes or add widgets or google ads to your blog.

Transformers - Robots in Disguise

Transformers the live action movie is coming.

Teaser trailer here:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/dreamworks/transformers/

New trailer here:
http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/transformers/



Official site with maker's videos and fan art here:
http://www.transformersmovie.com/main.html



Viral site:
password: takara83
SectorSeven.org

Kevin Rose is the coolest guy in the world

A kid wrote a letter to Kevin Rose (founder of Digg.com):
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_33/b3997001.htm

And Kevin sent him back a signed Business Week:
http://nerd4life.blogspot.com/



To see Kevin's video podcast check out diggnation:
http://revision3.com/diggnation

Time's Person of the Year: You

Time magazine has named 'You' person of the year.



Well done 'You' !

It's a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It's about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people's network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.

The tool that makes this possible is the World Wide Web. Not the Web that Tim Berners-Lee hacked together (15 years ago, according to Wikipedia) as a way for scientists to share research. It's not even the overhyped dotcom Web of the late 1990s. The new Web is a very different thing. It's a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter. Silicon Valley consultants call it Web 2.0, as if it were a new version of some old software. But it's really a revolution.

Full story here:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html

Amazing Virtual 3D Street Reality Art

Click on the image to see the larger version:

ning.com - the easy way to create your own social networking site

http://www.ning.com/

This site lets users create their own free social networking site with just a few clicks.

You can choose from pre-built templates and sites are 100% customisable and programmable via an api. Mashups with other web apps like amazon and google maps are possible.

Photo and video sharing features are built-in along with powerful forums and events calendars.

Want to know the best ..... anything ?

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Get your photos in a glossy magazine

This site is a place for photographers to upload their high-res pictures:
http://jpgmag.com/


Pictures are voted on and reviewed. The best pictures are included in a glossy magazine.
All the pictures that have been published are here:
http://jpgmag.com/photos/published/small

From the site:

JPG is not just another photo sharing site - it's a community that's come together to create a photo magazine. And that photo magazine is not just about photography - it's about a specific kind of photography.

We're about mostly unmodified photos. That means we do not accept photos that have been overly Photoshopped. Adjustments to color and sharpness is just fine, of course. Just keep it real, baby. Here's a handy rule: If anything has been digitally added or removed (well, besides dust), it's probably not right for JPG.

Need all the latest news from the Web2.0 world?

Mashable is THE web2.0 blog:
http://mashable.com/

The feed is here:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/mashable

What does web2.0 city look like?

Click for a full sized image:



Buy one here:
http://hello.eboy.com/eboy/product-detail/?token=FOO&pic=0&

You want hundreds of web2.0 XHTML/CSS Designs?

Here they are:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/splat/sets/981332/

Design Electronic Products the Web2.0 Way

This new site is all about designing electronic products (sub $190) as a group:
http://www.crowdspirit.org/

Is there any problem web2.0 can't tackle?

Spaceballs now only £30 NEW

This is the new 6-axis 3D controller (spaceball/spacemouse) from 3dconnection:
http://www.3dconnexion.com/products/3a1d.php

It's called the 'SpaceNavigator' and it looks like a massive price breakthrough for this class of device (previously they retailed for around £200).

What is a 3D controller? Check this link:
http://www.3dconnexion.com/products/3aaa.php
Basically it is an input device used in the opposite hand to your mouse hand. It is used with 3D design software to rotate and zoom a 3D model or navigate a 3D environment.

It is currently windows XP and USB only. It looks like 3Dconnection is now supporting the popular Google 3D applications Sketchup and Google Earth. A full list of supported applications can be found here:
http://www.3dconnexion.com/solutions/cad/2aa.php

UPDATE:
Here is Google Earth being used with the new controller:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XncGAGdqv9E

Adobe Kuler - Colour Palette Utility

This is a great new online colour tool from Adobe:

http://kuler.adobe.com/


It gives you lots of cool 5-Colour palettes that are perfect for web and print design.
You can customise the palettes online or create new ones. Palettes can be found using a keyword search or browsing the 'recent' or 'popular' categories.

Registered users can download palettes in .ase format for use in CS2 Adobe software products.

ConceptShare - share designs online

This is a cool new app for sharing designs online with customers and co-workers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5CXHOEfFJc


UPDATE:
conceptshare is now live:
http://www.conceptshare.com/

I'm a MAC... and I'm a PC

I love hating on Mac's and Mac users. However what few people seem to be talking about on the PC vs Mac front is that new Macs with intel core duo cpu's and Nvidia or ATI graphics ARE PC's ! Yes Macs ARE PC's.

Look, here is half-life2 running on windows XP booted on an iMac with ATI X1600 graphics:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v6knSCXMQM

And here is Windows XP running inside Apple OSX using the new 'parallels' emulator (Parallels on intel Macs runs windows much faster than emulators on G3,G4 and G5 Macs):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI33A76n4Ok


These aren't hacks. The 'bootcamp' software that boots windows on macs will be built into the next version of OSX. At the moment you have to download it from Apple here: http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

The Parallels emulator can be download here for £40:
http://www.parallels.com/

Audi TT Rhino Rendering

Audi TT Modelled and rendered in Rhino.

more cool stuff from this designer:
http://phil-w.blogspot.com/
http://heresmy.com/

Video Podcasts

Forget YouTube. The hottest media on the web at the moment are podcasts and the hottest podcasts are video podcasts.

These are my two favourites:

Geekbrief.TV:
http://www.btpodshow.com/shows/?mode=current&show_id=365

and

Diggnation:
http://revision3.com/diggnation

Even Wesley Crusher is getting in on it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wil_Wheaton
http://revision3.com/indigital/2006-09-26

Check them out !

UPDATE - this is my new favorite:
http://www.tikibartv.com/

Adrian's Mega Tips - Number 1 - usb wi-fi adapter problem

PROBLEM: Do you find that your Wi-Fi USB adapter does not automatically connect to your network after a reboot or return from Standby/Hibernate in Windows XP ?

ANSWER: Go to control panel - 'admin tools' - 'services' and make sure the following start automatically:
DHCP Client - Network Connections - Network Location Awareness - Plug and Play - Remote Access Connection Manager - Remote Procedure Call - SSDP Discovery - Workstation. To change the startup type to 'automatic' for these services just double click on the service and select 'automatic' from the dropdown.

Tom's Hardware Guide

Want to know the relative performance of all the latest PC hardware?

Then Tom's Hardware Guide should be your first stop. The site has interactive performance charts for CPU's, graphics cards and harddrives.

All charts are aranged so the fastest/best hardware is always at the top. There is a large choice of real world benchmarks that can be used to compare hardware. Just select the benchmark from the dropdown list and the chart is redrawn.

Webware.com - cool new web 2.0 blog from c-net

Check out this cool new web2.0 blog from C-Net:
http://www.webware.com/

There's a shift underway in how people use computers and the Internet. Every day more utility is being delivered over the Web. Full applications can now be run in a browser, accessible from any computer. Software? It's no longer required. Software is becoming Webware.

There are different types of Webware.

• Productivity applications. Microsoft may own the desktop, but not the Web. Online, Google has solid productivity apps. And there are dozens of upstarts in this market too.
• Data-driven applications. Many new online services rely on real-time data that simply could not be encapsulated into software. Examples include Google Maps, Zillow and Farecast.
• Community services. Webware enables people to network, share their lives, and work together. Examples are MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube, and SmartSheet.

Webware.com is the site where computer users can learn about new and useful Web applications.

Want to create and host websites in just a few minutes ?

These new web tools give you the power to create full hosted websites, for free, in just a few minutes.

Wetpaint lets you create community/wiki type sites. Customisation options are limited to changing colours, backgrounds and header images:

http://www.wetpaint.com/

-------------------------------------------

With Weebly you can create a small static website with a choice of templates. Once created sites can be hosted for free or download into a zip file for further modification:

http://www.weebly.com/

-----------------------------------------------

UPDATE:
Yet another website creation/hosting system:
http://www.squarespace.com/

Next Gen 3d Photo Worlds from Microsoft

This looks like a killer next gen photo app from Microsoft:

http://labs.live.com/photosynth/default.html

It was a hit at the recent web 2.0 conference.

Check out the video:

http://labs.live.com/photosynth/videodemo.html

Click the 'try it' link for a demo in IE 6 or 7.

AVG Free Anti-virus for Windows

A new version of AVG free antivirus software (7.5) has been released:

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5

It replaces version 7.1 that will be discontinued after January 2007.

This is a great anti-virus product that I have been using for over 2 years. It is free for personal use and virus definitions are updated daily. Plus unlike many anti-virus systems it does not slow down your machine too much.

However for adware/malware detection I use lavasoft ad-aware. It is free for personal use and has online updates of its definition files:

http://www.lavasoft.de/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php

Microsoft is now telling us that Vista wil not require any 3rd party anti-virus or anti-malware software:

betanews.com article

We will have to wait for Vista to see if this is really true.

Killer Robots

One day soon robots will take control and turn us into their slaves.

I will be the first to bow down to our Cylon overlords.

http://www.techeblog.com/

My first post

Welcome to my new blog !