a student's notes

Patrick Stewart

2010-10-05T12:40:00.000-07:00

Good.is has a nice list of best sesame street guest appearances (via Digg). Among them I found Sir Patrick Stewart appearing in a skit called "Soliloquy on B".

It's an amazing find, and it led to an even funnier find - a skit called "Make it so Number one".

Voice recognition elevator in Scotland - "Eleven"

2010-05-20T02:37:00.000-07:00

A great skit about a voice recognition in Scotland:

Piano stairs - The Fun Theory

2010-05-14T14:37:00.000-07:00

The Piano Stairs are a fun innovation to the normal mundane stairs. By transforming the stairs into piano keys, which activate when people walk on them, make the experience of going up or down the stairs completely different.

Firefox downloaded 1 billion times

2009-08-01T05:35:00.000-07:00

Firefox, the ultimate web browser, has reached an incredible milestone - 1 billion downloads since its launch in 2004.

See the PCWorld article about it, The Guesstimater, the official notes at One Billion plus You and the Spreadfirefox page.

The future of DRM

2009-08-01T04:48:00.000-07:00

Where lies the future of DRM? Is DRM dead? Has the community's voice finally been given a proper listen to?

Only time will tell where or not the DRM will cease to exist.

VLC player hits 1.0.1

2009-07-30T04:43:00.000-07:00

VLC is an open source media player which supports a wide variety of formats. Just a few days ago it reached the version 1.0 milestone, which is great for all of us.

VLC is a great alternative to many proprietary media players, and usually provides wider format support, making it the media player of choice for many novice and proffesional users.

See the official notice here and also the discussion on Digg about it.

Frank Herbert's Moisture traps

2009-06-11T01:33:00.000-07:00

Dune is a great novel. If you haven't read Dune by Frank Herbert yet - go and read it! Even though I've read it quite a few years ago, and read some of its sequels, it is very interesting to read that some of Herbert's ideas might become a reality.

This Slashdot article is very interesting as it points to a possible use to the moisture traps described in Dune.

This is yet another example of how ideas spawned in the SciFi world might make its way into the real world.

From the pages of a SciFi novel to concept works and perhaps later into real-life versions of the inventions, the ideas of our SciFi authors are making their way over.

See also the reference from Stanford.

Is Laserbeak about to be invented?

2009-06-06T11:16:00.000-07:00

When I started reading this article I thought "hey, that could be cool". Just a few miliseconds later - that could be REALLY cool, since that is exactly what Laserbeak from the Transformers used to do.

Sure, it might still be in the development stage, but it's cool that during you lifetime, characters and ideas from the cartoons you grew-up with are becoming reality.

Last.fm shuts down the cool webapps

2009-06-06T11:09:00.000-07:00

Last.fm used to be a great site for music fans. It used to be a great way to listen to music online, without having to fret over logging in or doing anything other than picking a musician or artist you like, and it would just play.

I liked it so much that for a long time I've had a web-app as part of the main page of the blog. The web-app was simple: if you click on it, it would start playing songs by Norah Jones and other similar artists.

It's really sad that they have taken the whole web-apps off the net. I've heard a lot of rumors, and read a lot of things online as to what's been happening over there in the past several months.

Perhaps some day, the site will regain its old reputation as being a cool music website online. For now, the need to log in, and the shutting off of the web-apps are complete disappointing.

Sugar Delirium

2009-05-07T13:41:00.000-07:00

Sugar Delirium is an interesting site that shows you different foods and how much sugar (or the equivalent thereof) is in that food.

It actually is very informative in the way it conveys the information - the picture of the product along with sugar cubes to represent the amount of sugar in that product.

100 DVD's on 1 disc

2009-04-29T12:32:00.000-07:00

When the new data storage standard that GE is working on will get to mass production, the world of data storage will never be the same. Think about it - 100 DVD's worth of information stored on one disc.

Sure, discs aren't the best media to store data on - the are susceptible to rust and decay, and have a lifespan of only a few years, but as a temporary or short term data storage - they do wonders.

Just thinking about the scale - 100 DVD's on one disc, is astounding.

That is, of course, only as long as it will reach mass production any time soon. With the new standards for SD that are due to arrive in a year or two (according to some reports), and allow huge amounts of data storage on a single card, discs as storage devices will have a hard time, to say the least.

Susan Boyle gets a standing ovation

2009-04-17T08:10:00.000-07:00

If you have yet to see the amazing performance Susan Boyle gave on the show Britain's Got Talent, you have to see it ASAP.

Why? Her performance gives us all an example of so many things we have forgotten. Starting from 'You can't judge a book by its cover' to how we perceive ourselves, the spectacular performance by Susan Boyle leaves you with your mouth open in awe, and a tingling sensation in your spine.

When she was asked about who she is and where she's from, how old she is, and the TV cameras took notice of various faces and frowns in the crowd, no one guessed or expected for Susan to actually live up to her own high standards (as famous as Elaine Paige).

That look on peoples, the look you saw in the audience as well as in the judges own faces, when they heard Susan start to sing, is a testament to many things we have forgotten.

We have forgotten to give people a chance, regardless of anything we might think of them, where they are from, or how old they are.

We have forgotten that people can succeed in what they do, that they can make their dreams come true, no matter how old they are and how many naysayers they have to face along the way.

This is a definite slap-in-the-face, a wake-up call of sorts. We need to smarten up, and sooner so, the better.

You can see the standing ovation yourself, at the link, or just have a look at all the views she's getting on Youtube alone.

If you are interested in reading more about it, I found an article about it by Tanya Gold in the Guardian.

Textual designs

2009-03-14T00:31:00.000-07:00

I found an interesting link about 3D text designs which could be very inspirational to any designer and webbuilder.

There are many different styles on display, though some share common factors.

Ways to make your laptop's battery last longer

2009-02-22T23:48:00.000-08:00

A post on TechRadar about 7 ways to make your laptop battery last longer (found via Digg) is an interesting list, and brings forward something we might be taking for granted - A lot of people are using their laptops as main computers. Has this changed the way we use computers?

Firstly, there is the fundamental change - the mobility. You can take your computer with you in a backpack, and pop it on in a Starbucks near you, and work there. You can go and sit at any place that offers free Wi-Fi access.

That mobility is dependent on power supply, be it battery or a wall socket. Since one cannot depend on finding a free power socket in every coffeeshop with Wi-Fi access, laptop users most times have to depend on their battery for power.

That is where the longevity of your battery kicks in. If it lasts a long time, enough for your surfing needs, you will not need a power socket at all. However, if it fails in the middle of your use, you would want to find an alternate power source as soon as possible.

So, what can you do? Well, you can start by checking the list on TechRadar. Another thing you can do is to check the battery life expectancy before buying a laptop, and let that be one of the determining factors of which brand and model to buy.

Firefox addons revisited

2009-01-19T07:16:00.000-08:00

Since the launch of Firefox 3, I haven't given much blogspace to rethink the addons I use. A post in TechRadar brought it to my attention, along with some more ideas for cool addons to use.

Some of you may recall that I've described the addons I think are reccomendable a few months ago. Back then, Firefox 2 was still around for another patch or two, before the announcement came that it will no longer be patched, and all users are encouraged to upgrade to Firefox 3.

I've tried myself some of the addons in the TechRadar post, such as Tab Mix Plus, IE view, Greasemonkey and more.

However, I am unsure at how much they add to the regular user. Since the TechRadar post is aimed at power users, I can understand why they would be there. I do not, however, think that I would recommend all of them to regular users, who might question whether they should have these or not.

The resolve in this matter to the techy person in all of us is quite simple - do not hesitate to try the addons, after you've read everything there is to know about them, just because you may not necessarily consider yourself a power user. That's part of the fun that firefox is - you can install addons and uninstall if they don't suit you. In fact, you can even install an addon for a while, and later when it no longer suits your need, you can disable it or uninstall it.

Earbud Tie

2009-01-17T22:06:00.000-08:00

Link to a clever tie, that makes you look as if you are wearing earbuds. Genius.

Not that everyone has an Ipod, or Iphone, but it's a refreshing approach to what you can wear on a tie, and how a tie can still look cool.

Klingon Keyboard

2009-01-13T22:56:00.000-08:00

Boinboing.net has a funny article about a Klingon keyboard. Just in case having a virtual Klingon keyboard or font aren't enough for you, you can check out the keyboard there that has Klingon type letters instead of any other language you might expect.

The Fish Volvo

2009-01-13T21:45:00.000-08:00

Gizmodo have a funny post (with picture!) about a guy who turned his Volvo into a fish-mobile of sorts.

Really funny.

Gingerbread geeky creations

2009-01-06T07:27:00.001-08:00

Food can be a great outlet to express one's self in a creative sort of a way. These examples of gingerbread creations are excellent examples that with a bit of imagination (and quite a bit of talent) you can create real-world items, or maybe just a Deathstar.

One of my favorites from the photostream of gingerbread creations is the picture of the gingerbread Tardis (pics number two).

Checkout also the thread on Digg about it.

You may remember I've blogged about Adam Newbold's Muppet Cake. His creations were really amazing.

It's really outstanding what creative people can do with food and art.

Blame it on the rain - Milli Vanilli

2008-12-21T04:04:00.000-08:00

Milli Vanilli were a very interesting singing duo, which had quite a few number one hits in the late eighties and early nineties. Songs like "Blame it on the rain", "Girl you know it's true, "Baby don't forget my number" and "Girl I'm gonna miss you" were very successful.

It is too bad that just a few years after their meteoric success it was discovered that they were not the people behind to vocals being heard. It was revealed that they had used another one's voice to sing and dance to, pretending to sing with their own voice.

Still, the songs they've created still echo in the music hall of fame as some of the number one hits of the late eighties and early nineties.

Blame it on the rain

Baby don't forget my number

See also the article on them at Wikipedia.

The Big Three

2008-12-10T02:19:00.000-08:00

Treehugger has an interesting ad about the big three car manufacturers in the US, and the bailout plan.

The ad is satirical, and the design is similar to that which is used by the companies themselves to sell cars.

It's an interesting example of satirical use, in my view. Check it out for yourselves.

edit: the credit in treehugger goes to Buffalobeast.com via Boingboing.net.

Save the Planet - it's the only one with beer

2008-12-10T02:14:00.000-08:00

This funny picture tells just why we should try and save the planet, and gives a pretty good reason why we should get our act together.

If you liked that one, you'd probably like this one too, and this one.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

2008-12-01T00:14:00.001-08:00

One of the TV shows I remember from when we were young was Alvin and the Chipmunks. It was another one of the cartoons abundant in the late 1980's, and were joined by others, such as Bravestarr, Scooby Doo, Beetlejuice and many more.

link to the movie

The show was about three brothers growing up together and having their own band. Nothing fancy about it, it was pretty simple. Perhaps that is what made it very enjoyable when we were young.

How many blogs does the world need?

2008-11-24T23:13:00.000-08:00

Time is asking just that, how many blogs does the world need.It's an interesting read in this day and age, found via Digg, and though I may not agree with all things said, it still provides an interesting point of view for this current wave/phase of the Information Age.

Bruce Lee plays Ping Pong and other assorted goods

2008-11-23T02:39:00.000-08:00

There's a movie about showing Bruce Lee playing ping-pong versus one player, then two players, while he's using nunchuckus.

link to the movie

Another interesting find in Digg was yet another photoshop FAIL ad. The picture showed Eva Avila holding one hand in the air and another hand holding a music player. The hand in the air has only four fingers, instead of the five fingers she has.