tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84759554675393539832024-03-08T23:37:20.653+00:00ethernet noodlesstuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02396049801150086197noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8475955467539353983.post-92207141040280998972007-11-07T15:05:00.001+00:002007-11-07T15:05:09.132+00:00Free at last<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><a href='http://www.freewaregenius.com/2007/10/29/reinstall-windows-and-outfit-your-system-with-all-freeware-programs/'>This</a> is a guide to building a windows desktop that uses only freeware. It's a nice idea, although idealogical purists might prefer to use only <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source'>Open Source</a> software for that extra minty-fresh freedom taste. Two similar, open-source driven projects can be found <a href='http://www.opensourcewindows.org/'>here</a> and <a href='http://osswin.sourceforge.net/'>here</a>.<br/><br/><br/><p class='poweredbyperformancing'>Powered by <a href='http://scribefire.com/'>ScribeFire</a>.</p></div>stuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02396049801150086197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8475955467539353983.post-52506244030255749232007-11-01T12:21:00.001+00:002007-11-01T14:03:16.744+00:00links<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><a href="http://www.weddingbetting.com/">Wedding Betting</a><br />How long do you give them?<br /><a href="http://lifehacker.com/software/how-to/make-your-linux-desktop-look-like-a-mac-317110.php">Make your Linux Desktop look like a Mac</a><br />Too skint to upgrade to Leopard but want the eye candy? No problem.<br /><br /></div>stuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02396049801150086197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8475955467539353983.post-38910407325557359542007-10-31T14:44:00.001+00:002007-11-01T14:03:39.632+00:00Arr, me hearties, etc.<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><a href="http://thepiratebay.org/">The Pirate Bay</a> are working on a new <a href="http://securep2p.net/index.php/ProtocolDesgin">Peer-to-Peer protocol </a>that they claim will improve the weaknesses and limitations of existing technology like BiTorrent.<br /><br />Although BitTorrent at least has a thin veneer of legitimate usage (and indeed is used for above-board data transfer, software downloads, etc) the new protocol seems aimed squarely at more ethically grey uses of File Sharing.<br /><br />Planned features include traffic analysis counter measures (masquerading transmissions as other, legitimate traffic) optimal usage of bandwidth, greater anonymity (and 'plausible deniability' for those who are caught) and the ability to more easily detect 'fake' files planted by copyright holders.<br /><br />In other file sharing news, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/10/trent_reznor_and_saul_williams.html">come out</a> as an ex-<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/7057812.stm">Oink</a> user. Phew! Rock 'n' Roll!<br /><br /><br /></div>stuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02396049801150086197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8475955467539353983.post-10947903498008282752007-10-29T16:51:00.001+00:002007-10-29T16:51:32.601+00:00Inside the mind of a nine-year-old file sharer<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><a href='http://torrentfreak.com/inside-the-mind-of-a-9-year-old-file-sharer-071021/'>Torrentfreak</a> interviews a nine-year-old girl about filesharing and P2P.<br/><br/><p><strong>TF. So you’re sure that it’s ok to copy it? What do you think about copying?</strong></p><br /><p><em>- I suppose it’s not ok to copy but people copied it off her<br />site so she just copies theirs. It’s like, you’re copying my t-shirt so<br />i’m copying you on shoes.</em></p><br /><p><strong>TF. Ok, so a bit like copying school work?….Hmm….ok, let’s<br />talk about copying on the computer again. When you started using<br />LimeWire, did anyone ever mention that if you did certain things you<br />might be breaking some laws?</strong></p><br /><p><em>- Why would they put it [music] on the internet and invent mp3 players if it was against the law?</em></p><br/><br/><br/><p class='poweredbyperformancing'>Powered by <a href='http://scribefire.com/'>ScribeFire</a>.</p></div>stuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02396049801150086197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8475955467539353983.post-32489837463677074662007-10-29T10:10:00.000+00:002007-10-29T13:55:32.634+00:00VirtualBox - actually usable PC virtualizationI've been using <a href="http://www.virtualbox.org/">VirtualBox</a> to run a virtual Windows XP PC on my Ubuntu Linux system. I have always found virtualization software like <a href="http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/">Qemu</a> or <a href="http://vmware.com/">VMWare</a> to be a bit fiddly to install or (once you get the thing working) slower than a peg-legged tortoise doing Tai-chi.<br /><br />VirtualBox is free, open source (there is a commercial version with a few extra features) and will let you run a variety of guest operating systems on top of Windows, Linux and Mac OSX. It is also <span style="font-style: italic;">fast. </span>Even on my rubbish home Athlon it still runs fast enough to browse the web, run MS access and play a few (older) games.<br /><br />Desktop integration is very well handled and you can either run the entire desktop in a window on the host PC or let programs run as if they were native apps in their own windows.stuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02396049801150086197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8475955467539353983.post-81568372932581309622007-10-28T21:47:00.001+00:002007-10-28T21:53:53.080+00:00USB memory stick for the clinically paranoidThe <a href="https://www.ironkey.com/demo">IronKey</a> is triple-encrypted, filled with epoxy resin to prevent tampering, shielded from electron microscope snooping and best of all - if you enter the pass code incorrectly ten times it will self destruct.<br /><br />Ideal for storing Powerpoint presentations and living out a Walter Mitty-esque fantasy life. <span class="on down" style="display: block;" id="formatbar_CreateLink" title="Link" onmouseover="ButtonHoverOn(this);" onmouseout="ButtonHoverOff(this);" onmouseup="" onmousedown="CheckFormatting(event);FormatbarButton('richeditorframe', this, 8);ButtonMouseDown(this);"></span>stuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02396049801150086197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8475955467539353983.post-59215139478967906602007-10-28T21:31:00.001+00:002007-10-29T00:45:13.045+00:00Ridiculous video watch for the friendless<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/images/products/additional/large/metallic_video_watch_on.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 277px; height: 157px;" src="http://www.thinkgeek.com/images/products/additional/large/metallic_video_watch_on.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/watches/954e/">This</a> is <span style="font-style: italic;">obviously</span> ridiculous and is the equivalent to hanging a <span style="font-weight: bold;">kick me</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">I'm a loser</span> sign around my neck.<br /><br />And yet.. <span style="font-style: italic;">and yet</span>..stuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02396049801150086197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8475955467539353983.post-17312533900188378052007-10-28T21:24:00.000+00:002007-10-28T21:29:53.270+00:00links<a href="http://wiki.jeffsandquist.com/default.aspx/AirPower/AirPower%20Home.html">AirPower wiki</a><br />locations of power outlets in airports<br /><a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-a-Night-Vision-Webcam/">HOWTO: make a night vision webcam</a><br />for entirely legitimate, security-based purposes wholly unconnected with that restraining order<br /><a href="http://www.querycat.com/">QueryCat</a><span class="on down" style="display: block;" id="formatbar_CreateLink" title="Link" onmouseover="ButtonHoverOn(this);" onmouseout="ButtonHoverOff(this);" onmouseup="" onmousedown="CheckFormatting(event);FormatbarButton('richeditorframe', this, 8);ButtonMouseDown(this);">FAQ database - how to do almost everything (or at least, everything that has been lightly documented by a geek)<br /></span>stuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02396049801150086197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8475955467539353983.post-1608762488081275092007-10-28T00:46:00.000+01:002007-10-28T23:18:31.786+00:00Gmail adds IMAP (for some)<p>Google has quietly rolled out <a href="http://www.imap.org/">IMAP</a> access for a seemingly random group of GMail users. IMAP makes a lot of sense as a roaming email protocol, compared to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Office_Protocol">POP3's</a> focus on single-device offline reading.</p><p><br />It's a brave move for Google in some ways - if enough users start reading their mail in 'real' desktop client apps like Thunderbird, Pegasus and (cough) Outlook or via Blackberry (etc.) then they are bound to see a drop off in ad revenue as users stop seeing those context sensitive blipverts at the top of their browser. Could they be about to start injecting ad copy into our emails?</p>stuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02396049801150086197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8475955467539353983.post-21520966914019498462007-10-28T00:44:00.000+01:002007-10-28T14:25:29.542+00:00Prism - Mozilla's 'browserless' web platform<p><a href="http://labs.mozilla.com/2007/10/prism/">Prism</a> is a spinoff from Mozilla Labs' WebRunner XUL applications environment that allows web apps such as GMail, Flickr or FaceBook to run as desktop apps in their own seperate client windows. </p><p><br />I probably have GMail open enough to warrant breaking it off the browser tab bar into it's own space, although I'm not sure what it would add to the experience other than making me use the Alt-Tab keys a bit more often. Prism would definitely be useful if you were trying to offer web apps on the corporate desktop, though - particularly if you wanted to jump on the web app bandwagon without actually letting your employees use the web.</p><p><br /></p>stuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02396049801150086197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8475955467539353983.post-55104384006388135422007-10-26T18:59:00.000+01:002007-10-28T22:33:29.517+00:00links<a href="http://mobymemory.com/proddetail.asp?prod=SDSDQ-1024_BundleBuy">MobyMemory Bundle deals</a><br />Memory cards+USB reader bundles<br /><a href="http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/r/biostek-xs360">Biostek XS360 DVD player</a><br />Multi region DVD player with DivX & USB stick support<br /><a href="http://stephenfry.com/blog/">Stephen Fry's blog</a><br />"I've never met a Smartphone I haven't bought"stuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02396049801150086197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8475955467539353983.post-53870602468004465192007-10-26T00:50:00.000+01:002007-10-28T22:33:52.414+00:00Ubuntu 'Gutsy Gibbon' review<p>I've been running <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu </a>Linux 7.04 ('Feisty Fawn') since its release six months ago and have been fairly happy with it, but it's not something I could recommend to everyone. For every polished feature and easy configuration grace note there would be some other clunking bit of config file editing of kernel tweaking that would stop me in my tracks and send me to Google in search of a fix.</p><p><br />Now I'm rarely happier than when I'm elbow deep in documentation and hand-assembling whole operating systems from earwax and pocket fluff, but this is not an experience I can recommend to everyone. Happily, then, I can report that Ubuntu 7.10 (aka 'Gutsy Gibbon') is a big improvement and is at last something that I think I could give to my mum without her writing me out of her will.</p><p><br />The Gnome desktop environment looks a little primitive at first - a bit Windows 2000 rather than shiny new Vista, but this is deceptive. If you have a decent graphics card it will give you a load of slick new features from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compiz">Compiz</a> project like 'wobbly windows' (more fun than it sounds) and animated open/close effects. Install the optional settings manager and you can activate an amazing-looking 3D-desktop option that plasters your windows around the face of a rotatable cube. This may sound a bit frivolous, but if you spend all day in front of a monitor little tricks like this make the desktop seem more solid - more like something you can touch and use rather than just a blank page to hold Excel spreadsheets and browser windows. You don't <em>need</em> it, but there are enough usability enhancements ) mixed in with the eye candy that you will miss it when it's gone.</p><p><br />Talking of which, Ubuntu now ships with the latest OpenOffice (for all your mostly-compatible-with-Office XP needs) the Firefox web browser and approximately 2 gazillion extra applications that can be downloaded and installed using the Synaptic Package Manager (a bit like Add/Remove Programs under Windows - only not so obviously crack-addled.)</p><p><br />Hardware support has come a long way and support for typical laptop configurations is much improved with drivers for many more WiFi cards than previous releases.</p><p><br /></p>stuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02396049801150086197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8475955467539353983.post-36408905535447821122007-10-23T20:38:00.000+01:002007-10-28T22:34:34.250+00:00Joey - Mozilla mobile content aggregator<p>You know how it is with the mobile web. You break out your smartphone with the intention of having a bit of a browse on the way to work, but everything takes so much *longer* when you are fiddling with a keypad and by the time you have negotiated the search engine to find what you are looking for the train has already pulled into the station and the cleaners are ushering you out on to the platform.</p><p><br /><a href="http://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Joey">Joey</a> is one of those ideas that sound so obvious in retrospect - a sort of <a href="http://del.icio.us/">del.icio.us</a> meets <a href="http://pbwiki.com/">pbwiki</a> aimed at streamlining mobile browsing.</p><p><br />If you spot something interesting while browsing the web at your desktop you can use a Firefox extension to grab the content (be it a whole page, snippet of text or some multimedia) and it will be saved, with a suitable title, on your Joey feed. Point your phone's browser at the Joey site, log in and you will be able to access cached versions of the data.</p><p><br />Its a bit rough around the edges at the moment, but I'm going to give it a try and see how it works in practice. If it makes extended browsing on a Nokia N73 enjoyable then we may have a winner.</p><p><br />There is a YouTube demo film <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH_S_9qYt5w">here</a>.</p>stuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02396049801150086197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8475955467539353983.post-46678344072570094672007-10-22T22:17:00.000+01:002007-10-28T22:32:50.407+00:00Arrrgh MY *%&$! HAND!!! (It must be my anniversary)The <a href="http://www.alaskajewelry.com/remember-rings-never-forget-anniversary-p-2040.html">Remember Ring .</a><br /><br />"<span style="font-size:85%;">24 hours before your special day, the Hot Spot™ on the interior surface of your Remember Ring™ will warm to 120º F for approximately 10 seconds, and continue to warm up <i>every</i> hour, <i>on</i> the hour, <i>all day long"</i></span>stuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02396049801150086197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8475955467539353983.post-42159222832123024782007-10-22T22:05:00.000+01:002007-10-28T22:35:30.378+00:00links<a href="http://www.publicdomaintorrents.com/topten.html">Public Domain Movie Torrents for PDAs</a><br />PDA-formatted movies from the Internet Archive<br /><a href="http://portableapps.com/apps/music_video/vlc_portable">VLC Portable</a><br />USB-stick ready standalone version of the Best Media Player In The World<span style="font-size:85%;">™</span><br /><a href="http://www.alwaysbeta.com/2007/08/27/the-tale-of-the-mechanical-virus/">The Tale of the Mechanical Virus</a><br />A physical fault in a VGA cable behaves like a computer virus and 'infects' other ports it is plugged in to, making them cause the same fault in other cables.stuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02396049801150086197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8475955467539353983.post-80253765991084886842007-10-18T19:21:00.000+01:002007-10-28T22:36:02.165+00:00Unlocker<a href="http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/">This</a> has been the difference between me calmly deleting a stubborn windows file and destroying one of our servers with a hammer.stuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02396049801150086197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8475955467539353983.post-48069516653068508392007-10-17T21:40:00.000+01:002007-10-28T22:36:15.382+00:00links<a href="http://www.pinktentacle.com/2007/10/u-tsu-shi-o-mi-virtual-humanoid/">U-Tsu-Shi-O-Mi Virual Humanoid</a><br />"The result is an interactive virtual 3D character with a physical body that the viewer can literally reach out and touch." Hmm. I think I see where this is going..<br /><a href="http://friendfeed.com/">FriendFeed</a><br />social networking aggregator - lets you munge up all your social datastuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02396049801150086197noreply@blogger.com0