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Cool Science News

2011-02-09T22:15:00.000Z

egmCarTech	"There is no electronic-based cause for unintended acceleration in Toyotas," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood tells us now. Althouse - 2 days ago Now, let's try to remember how much trouble the Obama administration caused Toyota. Here's an article from last March: Ever since the Transportation Department stepped up pressure on Toyota over its recalls several months ago, two delicate ...
My Frugal ...	DealPulp: $50 Diamonds International Voucher for Only $20 + Giveaway (5 Readers Win!) Hip2Save - 5 hours ago DealPulp (another Daily Deal site) is currently offering up a great deal if you are a fan of jewelry, watches and more! Currently, you can snag a $50 Diamonds International voucher for only $20… that's 60% off.
Pribek	Finnish Research Lab to Recreate Worldâ€™s Oldest Beer Young & Hungry - 4 hours ago In July 2010, salvage divers in the Baltic Sea discovered what could be the world's oldest bottles of beer. Since the early 1800s when a two-mast ship sank near Finland's Ã…land Islands, the beer sat undisturbed in a near-perfect setting for ...

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2011-02-05T16:53:00.000Z

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Katy Perry in some interesting shots

2010-11-22T16:24:00.002Z

Celeb Embarrassing Photos: Katy Perry | PerezHilton.com

It happens to all of us! CLICK HERE for a photo gallery of some embarrassing and hilarious photos of Katy Perry! CLICK HERE for a photo gallery of some embarrassing and hilarious photos of Katy...Celebrity gossip juicy celebrity rumors... - http://perezhilton.com/

Today in Springbok rugby

2010-11-15T20:15:00.001Z

Interesting stories around the Springboks toady...

Springbok duo fail drug tests — ShoonSports

1 hour ago by admin
Springboks Chiliboy Ralepelle and Bjorn Basson suspended for failing a doping test following South Africa's win over Ireland.
ShoonSports - http://www.shoonsports.com/

Springbok Player Ratings: v Wales | SARugby.com

The selfish decision to cut back in rather than link up with Aplon for a sure try in the first half suggests he's too focused on surpassing Joost van der Westhuizen as the sole record holder as the top try-scorer in Springbok history. ...
SARugby.com - http://www.sarugby.com/

Klimb for the Truth, Springbok Nude Girls – Rabbit, Heith & Ave ...

Klimb for the Truth, Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.. planned ascent Hemingway´s way, exposing TRUTH about our SICK world that needs.
Dirk Bradshaw Blog - http://www.dirkbradshaw.com/

Basson out of Springbok Tour | 15.co.za | Rugby Union News, Live ...

Wing Bjorn Basson has been forced out of the Springbok tour of the UK and Ireland because of injury. The Vodacom Blue Bulls player sustained a grade 2 right.
15.co.za | Rugby Union News, Live Scores,... - http://www.rugby15.co.za/

Former Springbok captain, Bob Skinstad, endorses programme ...

Former Springbok captain, Bob Skinstad, endorses programme. Monday, 15.Nov.2010. Bob Skinstad, former South African rugby union player and national team captain, adds his support for Bhubesi Pride's African rugby coaching project and ...
TransAfrique 2011 - http://bhubesipride.com/

Top Education Blogs Today

2010-11-12T14:43:00.001Z

CGS – Education - are there any maori language courses that one ...

What is the best online drivers education course I should take? I'm looking for a legitimate online drivers ed course to take that isn't too expensive, clear, and teaches you a lot. Preferably nothing over $70 ...read more ...
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Montessori Language Activities : Montessori Sand Letters Activity ...

Using sand Montessori letters helps your child trace and remember each letter. Learn how to use sand letters in thisfree.
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Study Abroad in Economically Powerful Counties of Asia for Unique ...

As the whole world is now witnessing the blend of different races, cultures and traditions, more and more individuals are in the favour of studying abroad so that they get to know a specificlanguage, ethnicity and also the potential ... The country is also favorable to build a career once you complete your education there. You'll always experience job security and ethical working principles. Various universities in Japan are University of Tokyo, Aichi Gakuin University ...
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Deleting the Holodomor: Ukraine Unmakes Itself ...

Yanukovich's assault on Ukrainian identity, newly resurgent following the Orange Revolution, has focused on education, culture, language, and history. Various policy measures have already begun to squeeze the authentically Ukrainian out ...
Therearenosunglasses's Weblog - http://therearenosunglasses.wordpress.com/

Arabic Language Learning
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Can problem solving be taught? - The Linguist On Language - Having ...

I am reading a book on Italy called Regole or "Rules" which discusses some of the problems of modern Italy. The authors point out the problems of the Italian education system and suggest that a greater emphasis should be put...
The Linguist On Language - Having Fun Learning... - http://thelinguist.blogs.com/how_to_learn_eng...

Beginner French

2010-09-25T20:08:00.002+01:00

Set some goals – While you may not be fluent when visiting France in 3 months, it would make sense to have a simple goal such as - Being able to order a meal and discuss the weather with the waiter. If you can do this well, you’ll be surprised at how people’s attitudes change when you show that you’re making an attempt to speak their native language. This provides real incentive and helps you focus. With the Beginner French course you will be able to prepare for specific situations like this.
It also helps to listen to your lessons during jogging or other exercise. By doing this, you use this time effectively instead of just listening to music. You’ll still find it relaxing, and learn at the same time. And if you don’t jog or do other exercise, now is a good time to start.
Spend time studying every day. Creating a routine will help with this. 10 minutes a day is better than 1 hour every week. A good way to stick to a routine is to keep track of your activities. Make a simple daily checklist, and ensure that you complete the activities every day. Once you get into this habit, you’ll find it much easier. Beginner French has some more tips on maintaining a routine.
Language learning takes time and commitment - don't expect to be fluent overnight. Be realistic and don't expect miracles. It may take longer than you think, but if you stick with it, you’ll notice steady improvement. Like anything else, it takes practice, and time.
Visualise the benefits of being able to speak French well. Imagine the destinations you can visit, and the reactions of the locals when they realise you can actually communicate in their native tongue.
Form a study group. If you have friends or a partner who wants to learn the same language, it will help both of you to study together, practice vocabulary together and set goals together. This will add a lot of motivation to help you get through the difficult bits.
Use a great course. Modern computer-based language courses make the best use of the most recent discoveries in understanding the way your brain works to acquire a language. Make sure you have one of the latest training courses. Our recommended courses include games, audio lessons, activities and culture lessons. Most courses allow you to sign up for a few free lessons to see if you like what they offer. Beginner French offers one of these courses.

The daily thought (29)

2009-06-01T09:01:00.001+01:00

The weather has an unbelievable ability to affect my general attitude toward things. Today = FANTASTIC!

The daily thought (28)

2009-05-31T10:20:00.000+01:00

The price predictor in Bing rocks!

The daily thought (27)

2009-05-30T10:19:00.000+01:00

to bing or not to bing

The daily thought (26)

2009-05-29T07:01:00.000+01:00

TGIF – oldie but goody, and I still think that every week!

The daily thought (25)

2009-05-29T05:00:00.000+01:00

Early in the morning, the sun was up and the sky was very blue.

The daily thought (24)

2009-05-28T09:44:00.001+01:00

2 days till the weekend – clearly defined goals. Let’s rock!

The daily thought (23)

2009-05-27T09:41:00.000+01:00

ZuneHD anyone?

The daily thought (22)

2009-05-26T09:40:00.000+01:00

Back to work for a four day week. Every week should be like this. More time with the family – more energy to work. FTW!

The daily thought(21)

2009-05-25T09:39:00.000+01:00

Bank holidays rock!

The daily thought (20)

2009-05-24T09:38:00.000+01:00

Lazy Sunday reading papers. Roast later :)

The daily thought (19)

2009-05-23T09:19:00.000+01:00

Gardening – I need a lawn that thrives in boggy conditions…

The daily thought (18)

2009-05-22T08:41:00.000+01:00

It’s the freakin’ weekend gonna have me some fun!

The daily thought (17)

2009-05-21T19:35:00.000+01:00

Who knows when things will improve? You don’t, you just have to focus on making it through the day, and don’t let the important things drop.

On improving the daily slog through better technology….

2009-05-21T09:03:00.001+01:00

Now, Apple has apparently been doing some work around a water-cooled laptop. This is hopefully going somewhere interesting.

I don’t really see the need or have the capacity to install another large box in my office – so I suspect that most new purchases for me and many other people will be laptops. Problem is, as my main workhorse at the moment is a Dell XPS M1710. Loaded with 4GB of RAM, it’s almost sufficient for my needs. It’s relatively fast, and has enough RAM to run a VPC if I have to. Mostly, I use the new ‘boot from VHD’ functionality in Windows 7 to choose which OS to run, and have a number of images sitting on VHD. This allows me to work on any number of OS’s at native performance, while keeping all my docs etc on a separate partition.

The 2 things I would improve in this machine is:

An SSD (native PCI-express type like OCZ makes for PCs) which I assume will eventually be available on Expresscard for some ridiculous amount.
And a decent cooling solution.

The machine runs hot – way too hot. Having it on the whole day means I don’t need to have central heating in my office. Having two of these in an office turns it into a boiler room. And the noise is just terrible.

So, if Apple (or anyone) actually makes a decent water-cooled laptop that runs cool and silent, I’ll be first in line.

And those Expresscard SSDs – I’ll take 2 !

The daily thought (16)

2009-05-20T19:34:00.000+01:00

It’s amazing how things can become really messy, really quickly.

The daily thought (15)

2009-05-19T00:14:00.000+01:00

It never rains…

The daily thought(14)

2009-05-18T08:02:00.000+01:00

Let’s rock!

The daily thought (13)

2009-05-18T00:44:00.000+01:00

I’ll say it again – unlimited subscription music ROCKS! nothing like a collection of around 5 million tracks… Discovering old favourites is amazing!

The daily thought (12)

2009-05-17T13:06:00.000+01:00

What good reason is there not to believe the Singularity will happen? You don’t really need to believe, you just need to realise it’s inevitable.

The daily thought(11)

2009-05-16T08:48:00.000+01:00

Once you have a baby, sleeping in or even just lounging in bed on the weekend becomes a thing of the past…

The daily thought(10)

2009-05-15T08:36:00.000+01:00

For some reason – I constantly think there’s something (else) I should be doing.

The daily thought (9)

2009-05-14T08:32:00.000+01:00

Before living the dream, you have to dream the life – completely!

Killer feature for any mobile device (Zune take note)

2009-05-13T09:04:00.001+01:00

So, it turns out the rumours from the twitter account were fake – there may not be any new Zune coming in June. However, we won’t know till we know.

Sadder is the news from WSJ that the motion camera for XBOX won’t be shipping for at least another year. This is unfortunate and makes me wonder what’s in the pipeline, as rumour has it that the device was pretty much fully functional when MS bought the technology.

But back the original topic. There is a new Zune coming, we just don’t know exactly when yet. @Volvoshine has been talking about new features, and one in particular that has other manufacturers stumped. Question is, could it be instant on?

The most annoying thing about any mobile device, but especially music players, is the fact that there’s a boot time. This really sucks. It sucks enough that I go back to good old FM quite often. Nice thing about FM, you press the button, you have music, INSTANTLY. If someone can pull that off with a device I’d buy three – or more.

Being able to get music without the annoying 15 sec delay would really be awesome.

But – unfortunately I don’t own a device company, so cannot build one myself and have to wait for someone else to realise this would kick ass…

The daily thought(8)

2009-05-13T00:51:00.000+01:00

I never realised how much my quality of life could be improved through fitting a new kitchen and bathroom! You want to live somewhere else while it happens though…

Zune HD Updates…

2009-05-12T12:58:00.001+01:00

So – at long last we’ll find out whether the Microsoft Entertainment & Devices Division team really has what it takes to compete. Hopefully Mr Allard has been up to something mind-blowing – and has a plan that won’t cost billions in fixes…

But, the market has become crowded – they need a phone that works – and something really special to take on the iPod Touch that has become quite an excellent gaming platform.

Of course, there are a number of things happening, and the gaming platform may be the first one we see with E3 coming up. Note that they’ll most likely release the new Wii competitor tech first – but who knows… E3 may be very exciting.

Strange place to launch a music player /phone thingy though…

The daily thought (7)

2009-05-12T00:11:00.000+01:00

Distraction – it happens in the blink of an eye…

The daily thought (6)

2009-05-11T00:57:00.000+01:00

Weekends – great for relaxing, and clearing the mind. Make sure to get as many chores as possible done during the week. This gives you a sense of accomplishment and frees up your weekend for fun pursuits! Focus on clearing your time for the coming weekend.

The daily thought (5)

2009-05-10T00:49:00.000+01:00

Getting more family time requires less TV, less Web, and less work. Strangely – this will also allow you to start a business with all the time you now have.

The daily thought (4)

2009-05-09T00:45:00.000+01:00

The web (like work) fills up all available time….

The daily thought (3)

2009-05-08T00:45:00.000+01:00

What would happen if I stopped tracking news on the web? Go cold turkey? No more twitter, blogs, facebook or engadget?

The daily thought (2)

2009-05-07T08:00:00.000+01:00

Current workloads and economic policies are not family friendly. We need a way to spend more time with the family. A 2.5 day work week at most :)

The daily thought…

2009-05-06T12:34:00.001+01:00

How much wisdom can be conveyed in a single twitter post (tweet)?

Windows 7 RC and Windows Server 2008 R2 RC Now Available

2009-04-30T14:19:00.001+01:00

The release candidates for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 are now available for download to anyone with MSDN or Technet subscription.

When pigs fly…

2009-04-24T10:48:00.001+01:00

Apple is making money hand over fist, and Microsoft posts it’s first revenue decline EVER.

Zune HD – What would REALLY be better than iPhone….

2009-04-22T16:05:00.001+01:00

So – rumours are all around that we’ll soon see a new Zune, and all those tales about the Zune dying or not being given new hardware was fake.

Well, there are some killer apps that the Zune could do with. It already has software far superior to iTunes, so can they make the hardware and package irresistible?

First up, wireless sound – using Kleer, Bluetooth 3.0 or even audioengine. It’s probably too late for Bluetooth 3.0, but let’s hope they have some plan. This should not only be to the bundled headphones, but ideally include an adapter to connect to your stereo.

Just think, sitting on your couch, browsing the Zune marketplace and playing anything directly to your stereo courtesy of your Zune pass without wires. Now that’s something to dream about!

Oh, and they could throw in a wireless power charger like the palm pre :)

OnLive – Deepzoom for games?

2009-03-25T10:17:00.001Z

Onlive seems to good to be true. The demo shown of at the GDC yesterday looks incredible, and certainly has the potential to revolutionise the gaming space.

This is a true example of dreaming better….

I wonder if anyone at Microsoft or Sony is paying attention. This does not really bode well for their next gen consoles – though MS has been focused on downloadable content for while, so that may be a natural fit.

This will certainly stop another $1 Billion fiasco - the red ring of death - hardware quality issues, but i assume the xbox 720 is already close to becoming a reality. Not sure whether there’s any match yet – but this looks like a prime acquisition target for the boys in Redmond.

We’ll have to watch closely.

To see what this is all about, check out the video here.

Silverlight 3.0 Beta available!

2009-03-18T13:02:00.001Z

Microsoft has released Silverlight 3.0 beta to developers just before the official start of the Mix 09 conference in Las Vegas.

Silverlight 3.0 has been eagerly awaited by a large number of developers, all hoping that the magic 3.0 release from Microsoft will bring even broader adoption of the already fairly successful platform.

A comprehensive list of all the released bits can be found here.

More info to follow…

Apple endangers the MIX

2009-03-17T17:04:00.001Z

Joe Wilcox thinks OS 3.0 will kill Mix09. But if we get Silverlight on the iPhone, maybe that helps a little?

What if all developers working on Silverlight apps (and WPF .Net apps) can suddenly target both iPhone and Windows phones? Or even just the iPhone? How’s that for a START?

iPhone 3.0

2009-03-17T16:04:00.001Z

Will we see Silverlight? That is, will the new SDK allow browser plug-ins?

We can only watch and wait…

Again – anything with an SDK…

2009-03-12T19:16:00.001Z

So, iPhone OS3.0 is coming. Updates to the SDK, rumoured tethering via Bluetooth and USB, what more could you want?

But wait – look at the date they’re releasing it – 17th March – 1 day before Mix 09. Any chance MS has finally managed to get Silverlight onto the iPhone?

Not sure what that would mean for their flagging mobile OS, but it sure would be a massive boost for Silverlight!

I have to say – tethering is one of those last things that the phone needs. A longer battery life would help too, but I’m assuming we’ll see new hardware soon. As it also has Exchange Sync, the iPhone is becoming a serious contender for Enterprise Phone.

So, is this just a dream, or does Microsoft have a plan to get their Mobile strategy going, that includes the most unlikely of partners?

Singularity Summit

2008-11-28T17:06:00.001Z

Eagerly awaiting audio and video from this year’s Singularity Summit. It seems they should have it available by early December.

A number of podcasts from last year’s show are available at IT Conversations. It’s well worth listening to and starts you thinking.

But then, you soon realize that that there’s a problem. If the singularity is inevitable (and it seems to be – I certainly believe so) – why have our efforts to discover other intelligent life in the universe failed?

Seems like a random thought – but of course this is not new (merely new to me!).

A most interesting summary can be found here.

You should also check out http://www.kurzweilai.net with lots of interesting articles on the Singularity, AI etc.

I still believe

2008-11-26T10:44:00.001Z

Please please please let Mr Wilcox be right. The Microsoft Mobile strategy is an embarrassment. I’ve always been a Microsoft supporter, but at the moment I can’t see a Windows mobile phone that will make a difference. Even when they finally DO release Silverlight for it, I can’t see that taking off big time.

The numbers just don’t add up. Around $300M for the current OS strategy, while Apple gets revenue of $4.9 Billion selling 6.9 million iPhones?

MS must realize that the potential market is just huge – several billion, not a measly 300 mil.

So – the only question is – when can we see it? Could the Inquirer be correct about the NVidia chip?

Gonna have to wait till at least CES…

Whoa – Free Isolater License :)

2008-11-25T10:13:00.001Z

This must be my lucky day. I’ve only just switched jobs, and have started a consulting gig where I focus on Sharepoint and related technologies, and here Typemock releases a special version of Isolator making it possible to unit test Sharepoint code without having Sharepoint installed. They’re also giving away a free license as described below!

Typemock are offering their new product for unit testing SharePoint called Isolator For SharePoint, for a special introduction price. it is the only tool that allows you to unit test SharePoint without a SharePoint server. To learn more click here.

The first 50 bloggers who blog this text in their blog and tell us about it, will get a Full Isolator license, Free. for rules and info click here.

anything with an SDK 2....

2008-03-12T06:41:00.001Z

Seems that the folks over at TechRadar have had some further info into Microsoft delivering Silverlight for the iPhone. Unfortunately, the actual quote:

"will look to build a version of Silverlight that will work on the iPhone, although there is concern about the royalties that Apple would charge."

does not really inspire confidence that this will happen soon.

Perhaps they should ask Miguel's team to do the work if they can't....

Microsoft - if you're listening, we're waiting!!

Windows Live Writer great - live installer not so much...

2008-03-12T06:33:00.001Z

So, I succumbed to my inner need for better performance and stability, and went back to running Windows Server 2008 (x64) on my laptop (Dell XPS 1710). I can honestly say that I'm impressed.

Server 2008 seems to be one of the most solid buckets of bits coming out of the big house in recent years, and certainly it beats the pants of Vista.

Not sure how that happens, as the kernel is supposed to be the same, but the experience isn't, and it's time Microsoft realizes this is what matters.

All the software I want to use works and installs with no problem, with the exception of my favorite blogging tool - Windows Live Writer. The installer refuses to install on the Server. No reason that I can see, it just refuses to do so.

Then again, even on Vista and XP the experience using the installer is abysmal. Rory comments on it here, and does such a great job, I really can't add anything :)

Thankfully, Paul Stovell has a link to a German site that hosts the individual MSI. You can find it here, right at the bottom of the page.

What I find quite hilarious, is that on installing this for the first time, I assumed the process had failed as there was no confirmation, and I'm used to the endlessly timewasting experience of the Live Installer. Much to my surprise, after running the install the second time, I actually checked my start menu and found that Live Writer was indeed installed, and running perfectly!

So, can someone please explain WTF the Live Installer does?

Anyway - much happier now, as I have a stable OS and my favorite writing tool!

anything with an SDK....

2008-03-06T06:28:00.002Z

So, it looks like my earlier speculation regarding the iPhone and Silverlight may yet prove to be right. And once again, ScottGu is involved.
Yesterday morning, during the keynote for Mix '08, Scott finished up the mobile demonstration for Silverlight 2 (which included a social networking app running on Windows Mobile 6, and a Weatherbug app running on Nokia n60 (Symbian), he mentioned that they want to make Silverlight available on more mobile devices, in fact,

anything with an SDK...

So, do we see another huge announcement during today's Apple SDK press conference?

We'll have to wait just a few more hours to see.....

Silverlight on the iPhone? Time for some speculation....

2008-02-14T11:16:00.001Z

Let's review what we know:

Apple is opening up the iPhone (and iPod Touch) to all developers. To quote Steve Jobs:

"We want native 3rd party apps on the iPhone"

Microsoft showed a demo of Silverlight running on a Windows Mobile device at last year's Mix in 'Vegas. Ongoing comments from various developers have shown that there will be a mobile release for Silverlight - but no-one has commented on when or how this will happen.
I asked Scott Guthrie at Mix in London whether Silverlight would be available on the iPhone, to which he replied that Apple was not allowing 3rd party apps on the phone. Clearly, that's changed.
Silverlight is Microsoft's first real attempt to have true cross platform development. They're even supporting the Moonlight initiative.
Also demo'd at Mix in London was a Silverlight app that didn't require the browser to run...
We also know that Apple is willing to work with Microsoft, as we have Silverlight on Safari already

Now - what can we gather from this. Put aside the Microhoonanigans for a while, in which Microsoft is desperately trying to revive an online strategy and be relevant...

If they could convince Apple to allow them onto the iPhone, it seems they have a much bigger slice of a much bigger pie.

Scoble is already speculating that Google is quite happy to let Microsoft and Yahoo fight it out, as they have their eyes on the real prize - mobile apps.

Generally speaking - the market for mobile applications are still in it's infancy, but you already have a situation where most people have more than one phone - so the potential is huge.

So, can Microsoft pull this off? More importantly, is anyone in the big house even thinking that this is strategically important? You would think so - given their recent win with Sony Ericsson. If not - that's why they're making desperate bids for Flickr...

This will be a great start in effectively countering Google's Android.

Of course - only time will tell, but what if it were true....

I keep thinking I complain too much...

2008-02-13T15:17:00.001Z

I buy a new laptop roughly every two years. As we don't get a new OS release every two years, there tends to be only one thing that drives me to do this - PERFORMANCE!

I get fundamentally frustrated when applications and OSses don't behave the way they should. Having to wait ~~a few~~ several seconds on my blazing fast brand new Dell XPS with 2GB of RAM, seems stupid - what did I spend all that money for?

Obviously, there are a number of key culprits to this - primarily things like Outlook. But I'm not convinced I can or should blame Outlook for all my problems. While Outlook may be a resource hog, it's by no means the only culprit. And I refuse to take the line blaming Microsoft for all the world's software ills, because

I run some EXCELLENT Microsoft software on a daily basis. I'm typing this using Live Writer, and I can honestly say it's one of the frostiest bit of code I've used recently.
Most companies make software that annoy me, with Adobe very high on the list :) Acrobat Reader is like a crash waiting to happen...

(see the comments in this scoble post)

I spent last night looking at a bit of demo code from Microsoft, showing developers how to implement a WPF client for RSS feeds. What I found ~~interesting~~ frustrating is that while the layout is really cool, and the app looks beautiful, the behaviour is just plain BAD! Using the system is non-intuitive, and doesn't lend itself to a great user experience.

This is disappointing as the goal of the ~~demo~~ starter kit is specifically to show how you can create user experiences using WPF that are incrementally better than those you experience in a browser.

The sample does a great job of showing off the excellent layout and screen reading system in WPF, but at the same time does a horrible job of making it usable.

So the question is:

"Does this happen because Microsoft and developers in general doesn't care about user experiences enough? Is Apple the only company that focuses on this?"

One of the fantastic things about the iPhone is that amazing responsiveness of the touch interface. Now, how is it wrong of me to expect a more responsiveness from a computer with at least 10 times the processing power and memory?

How can we force developers to take responsiveness into account when developing apps? Have they all become so used to a massive amount of available memory and processing power that they assume the hardware should solve there performance issues?

That may have turned into a bit of a rant but it truly annoys me. I'll call this part 1, and follow up examining performance in more detail in a future post.

Air of Vista?

2008-02-06T08:13:00.001Z

Vista in an envelope?

The MacBook Air gets a review over at Ars Technica, and reviewer Jacqui Cheng has a horrible time of it. Remember those problems with Vista where it's al but impossible to transfer files across the network? Well, it looks like the McAir is suffering the same problems.

To quote Jacqui :

"Well, my patience lasted about five hours. Five hours later, the transfer still had not started, because the Air still had not calculated the amount of time it would take."

That pretty much sums up my own experiences with copying files in Vista, so I wonder is somehow Microsoft and Apple have started sharing code? Or maybe just bugs....

Ms Cheng goes on to complain about performance, with a full set of benchmarks available. One of the main culprits here seems to be the 4200rpm drive. As noted before, we're really waiting for those first SSD reviews. She plans to write a follow up as soon as those SSD numbers become available.

She does have a number of very good things to say about build,d quality, how pleasant the form factor and weight is, etc.

Overall, I suspect it's going to be up to individual users. Regardless of how hard you try, a reviewer cannot get or give a true picture of a machine unless you use it as your main machine for at least a month or so. Some will like it, some will hate it. But will it become a true icon like some Macs of the past? We'll have to wait and see.

Microsoft, Yahoo and Google

2008-02-05T06:54:00.000Z

The news is old already, and yet there's lots of interest in the news that Microsoft has bid for Yahoo. It's going to take at least a year before this actually happens (if it does), but the impact on the web landscape will be significant.
To that extent, Google has decided to claim that the move may limit competition. of course, this is Google's right. Just like it's Microsoft's right to make the bid in the first place, and up to the Yahoo board and shareholders to decide whether to accept it.
However, it seems a bit ludicrous that Google can still call Microsoft evil. Google has as much, if not much more power in the Internet space than Microsoft, so the move will possibly create a decent competitor for Google. Now is not the time for them to run home crying to mummy, but rather to make sure they have their plans in place.
The Internet is once again becoming a REALLY interesting place....

Microsoft to acquire Yahoo !

2008-02-01T12:15:00.001Z

The mini-borg (google is now the borg) has apparently offered $44.6 billion for Yahoo. The two companies have been in discussion since 2006, and the move seems to be a direct attempt at countering the threat from Google.

The offer represents a 62% premium over yesterday's closing price, so shareholders will be rejoicing everywhere! Pity yours truly no longer owns any YHOO.

I assume the impact of this move will help Microsoft better define it's struggling online business, as they've never been able to be very successful with the various MSN and Live offerings.

Watch this space for more info on the merger.

More here.

Web 2.0

2008-01-31T22:04:00.001Z

I've been taking a look at the wonderful apps surfacing from Demo 08, and I can only say I'm impressed. I'm not even sure it's really Web 2.0 anymore, as perhaps we're really starting to get into the Web+ realm. I mean, in my mind, Web 2.0 was really limited to all the cool things people suddenly realised you could do with browsers, using technology that was old but suddenly had a cool new name - AJAX.

All the apps appearing now seem to be RIAs - Rich Internet Applications. And while you could probably build a RIA using AJAX, and do a pretty good job of it, the REALLY cool boys use AIR or Silverlight.

If you're not familiar with these, both technologies provide a cross browser / cross platform runtime - that enables rich applications to run inside the browser. The cool thing about these runtimes are that they abstract the differences between browser implementations, so that we finally truly have a write once, run everywhere world. Remember that - Sun promised that with Java back in '97....

So, what makes these new kids so cool?

Well - for a start - we're talking rich media - video and vector graphics in a very lightweight runtime. Performance tends to be excellent. On the Silverlight side, developers have access to a subset of Windows Presentation Foundation (a fairly large subset), but without the overhead of the massive .Net runtime. This makes it an extremely compelling environment to create business applications in. Not only do you have a very rich presentation mechanism without the overhead of coding to a large number of different browsers - you can deploy these apps to any OS (Apple, Microsoft or Linux) without any additional work!

Sounds too good to be true? It might, and there are obviously some details I'm not mentioning here. However, to whet your appetites, you should have a look at:

Buzzword - a truly cool word processor,

Blist - an online database that's excellent, and

JournalSample - an demo of some Silverlight abilities

Both platforms are new, but already there's a large number of developers following each camp. As users, we get to benefit as the applications created with these tools will surely enrich the Web.

So, is this Web2.0, or is it Web+ ?

I think - as we haven't had another crash yet, we should probably stick to Web 2.0 :)

Over the next few weeks I'll focus on these in a bit more detail. Specifically, Microsoft is gearing up to the next release of Silverlight, which will be announced at Mix'08 in early March.

Keep watching.

Mmmmm - Microsoft delays some products again, while some products released earlier

2008-01-30T12:25:00.001Z

Well, the news that SQL Server 2008 has been delayed should probably not have taken me by too much surprise, as I haven't received any great degree of confidence from Microsoft that the release date was set for Q2, and there wasn't even a beta in sight! The publicly available CTP has not so far even been feature complete - so it looks like there's still a lot of work to do.

This is not necessarily a problem. As a database platform, we expect this to be VERY solid once it does ship, so I prefer them to take the time to make sure it works before releasing it. The constant focus on trying to line up the release with the large February release party for Windows Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008, probably driven by marketing, is what really let this one down.

In fact, over the years, Microsoft has a lot to complain about when it reviews it's marketing efforts. Just look at the ~~chaos~~ confusion that surrounded the .Net release. no one could figure out what it was at the time. In fact, I'm still trying to explain it to some colleagues.

It's a shame though, as I've been harbouring a secret hope that the improvements I've seen around the VS2008 release (coming out slightly earlier that expected, and being considered a VERY solid release all round) would be visible in the other products too. Sadly, that doesn't seem to be the case for release schedules, though the quality of the other products should be excellent.

More info here.

Potential long term memory improvement discovered accidentally

2008-01-30T06:33:00.001Z

Researchers at Toronto Western Hospital, Ontario, have accidentally discovered areas of the brain that produces vivid recollection of events happening more than 30 years ago.

The discovery occurred while they were treating a patient for morbid obesity, and trying to identify potential appetite suppressant sites in the hypothalamus by stimulating the electrodes that had been implanted there. The patient suddenly reported vivid images of 'deja vu', describing scenes of himself with a group of friends in a park, an event that had taken place when he was about 20. As the stimulation increased, the detail of the recollection increased. These sensations were later replicated in a double blind study.

In ongoing treatment after the patient was released from hospital, they found that continuing stimulation of the area improved the patient's learning ability and the ability to remember unrelated paired objects.

The full results will be published in Annals of Neurology in the January 2008 issue.

Another step forward in understanding the complex machine we all depend on. It will be interesting to see if this 'stimulation' can possibly be produced by a drug of some sort, as that will have a massive improvement on a large number of people's lives. Not only improving life for aging individuals, but certainly allowing everyone to improve studying, researching, knowledge gathering etc.

We could all become sources of millions of useless facts :)

More here.

Lego - 50 Years old

2008-01-29T09:03:00.001Z

Can you believe that the not-so-humble Lego brick was 50 years old on Monday? The anniversary is defined by the date 50 years ago when the patent on the brick was granted.

Growing up, I have to say I spent many a happy hour playing with Lego's and you can still find the odd bionicle on various desks of mine.

The big move ahead is of course robotics, and this has made Lego a continued favourite of even jaded players like yours truly :) Now you can create your own Aibo!

Here's to wishing Lego another 50 years of success and enriching the minds of our kids!

Brave new world

2008-01-28T18:39:00.001Z

The breakthrough work done by Craig Venter and his team that takes the second step to creating synthetic life is truly amazing. Never before have we been so close to radical change in the way we live, work and interact with our environment. The potential for this research to be used for everything from cleaning up the planet to replacing fossil fuels to curing disease should not be underestimated.

As with every new development, there are a number of critics, all claiming that he's trying to play god, setting up an environment in which a madman will be able to use the technology for evil etc. This will inevitably happen whenever something new and different comes along.

Generally, scientists working with DNA synthesis liken the progress of work to that of computer chips, with cost falling swiftly while capability escalates. One of the main potential benefits from this research, would be to identify the building blocks required for life. The genome they've used for the experiment has only 485 genes, the smallest number for a known living organism. They think that some of these are unnecessary for life, but don't know which ones. The synthetic living organism will allow them to experiment with these genes and so discover the most basic building blocks of life.

The final, and most challenging step in creating synthetic life, is to insert the artificially created chromosome into a living microbe, and have it take over the organisms functioning, and be capable of self-replicating. The team believe that this goal is within their reach in the coming year.

The website for his research institute states:

"Synthetically produced organisms with reduced or reoriented metabolic needs will enable new, powerful and more direct methods of bio-engineered industrial production. We believe that a synthetic chromosome, and eventually a synthetic cell, will become an integral tool for the energy, chemical and pharmaceutical industries."

More info on the current work can be found in the published paper here, or for the less technically minded, here.

Worthy goals. We'll have to keep watching...

Wow

2008-01-28T13:53:00.001Z

This is indeed a remarkable product. Surf on over to skyfire to get more detail, but basically we have a mobile browser that does everything your PC browser does. That includes flash, video and presumably javascript. Not sure if Silverlight will work but I guess it will, as it seems to translate everything before it hits the client. I can't test it out yet as the private beta is US only for now - but the video below is VERY impressive.

If you're in the US you can sign up for the beta, but the rest of us will have to wait a little while longer...

Catching up

2008-01-28T13:05:00.000Z

You know, however much you try to keep up with everything happening around you, sometimes it's just not feasible to blog everyday. That's what happened yesterday, and so I've missed my first day. I trust this won't happen too often, but only time will tell. There are at least 3 stories that need to be put up here, but having a family, a day job and at least one private software project on the go makes it tricky at the best of times to be as responsive as I would like to be.

It should be noted that my intention is not really to bring you the 'latest gadgets' or review new products before anyone else gets their grubby mitts on them, but rather to provide an overview of events, products, technologies and discoveries in a more leisurely fashion. In these overviews I hope to specifically focus on how these will impact on our lives, and note some potential product improvements along the way.

These may sound like lofty goals, but I believe that improvements can be achieved in almost anything, and for the most part even small changes will have a large positive impact. Only time will tell if this view is correct.

As there's no specific picture to go with this story, I've provided a link to the the EarthShots photo of the day - that shows some beautiful images from around the globe on a daily basis.

EarthShots.org

Monday's Shot

MacBook Air

2008-01-26T07:35:00.001Z

Engadget has plenty of good to say about the McAir, with the main gripe being the non-replaceable battery. Still, the McAir comes off as a beautiful machine that should suit a large number of users. Whether it will become the iPod of laptops as they suggest, we can only wait and see.

The main missing ingredient to all these reviews, is that we still don't have any info showing the performance and battery life of the SSD version.

We're waiting with bated breath...

The full review can be found here.

Xbox Profits !!!!!

2008-01-25T07:21:00.001Z

How about that? The Xbox division has finally turned a profit, after spending billions on resolving quality problems. This is indeed a milestone worth mentioning for Microsoft, as it's taken 7 years to get here, with the original Xbox launching in 2001.

Of course, the fact that they shipped earlier than Sony, and by now have significantly cheaper manufacturing costs helps a lot toward this.

And then there was (is) Halo 3, which holds the record for the highest grossing opening day in entertainment history. US $170 million in the first 24 hours! I find it incredible that gaming, which is still not really considered a mainstream activity, can generate that amount of revenue. The future is surely bright for everyone in this industry.

Bungie, makers of Halo, have parted ways with Microsoft now, but the success of the game should continue to enable Microsoft to capitalise on the Xbox platform, and of course the next-generation Xbox should be the one REALLY worth waiting for. That is, if you take the traditional view that Microsoft doesn't get it right till the 3rd release...

Well done Microsoft! Now let's hope the next Zune can be as successful as the 360.

SKY+ software still bad after years...

2008-01-24T22:20:00.001Z

One of the things I've always found amazing, is how people will put up with mediocrity or just plain terrible experiences when they're not aware of anything better. SKY+ is one of these.

Sure, it's a hard disk recorder, allows recording more than one program at a time, has on-screen program listing, improves on the old VCR experience by so much it's very hard not to love it once you've tried it, but.........

I used to live in the 'states, and had a Tivo. This was 5 years ago, and even then, the software on that Tivo v1 box was SOOOOOO much better than the stuff on the SKY+ box today. What's even worse, is that there's no indication that SKY is taking any steps to improve this situation. The new HD box is no better, as it has essentially the same UI. Geez, maybe we should ask Steve & Co to design us a proper set top box...

A few examples:

This thing is a computer right? Runs some version of Java presumably. So how come it get's 'confused' at times? Quite often, looking at the info for a recorded program, I get a description for something entirely different. Like getting a description of a recent CSI episode when you click info for Desperate housewives
Once again, as a computer (and hopefully someone is thinking about the code behind this), how can programs EVER clash? Sometimes when I try to record 3 programs at the same time, I get a warning. Other times, it seems to decide I don't need the warning, and it will decide to stop recording a random program and later give me the helpful message 'recording clashed'.
If you see an ad for a program that will air later in the week (but you can't remember which day), and you want to search by name, you're out of luck, as the stupid software will not search alphabetically more than 2 days in advance!
On top of that, the alphabetic search screens shows EVERY SINGLE INSTANCE of every program. so you'll see an entire page of star trek, or something equally dumb, because the designers haven't figured out how a treeview control works.
And of course, you cannot type more than the first letter for a program, so you have to page through all these listings to find (or not, if it's more than 2 days off) what you're looking for.
And then - series link breaks when there's a break in the series. When the American shows stop for election week or sweeps week or Thanksgiving or any of the other reasons they may skip an episode, you have to trust that you will remember to reset the link yourself!

Funny thing, my Tivo box solved all these problems beautifully, and as I said, that was 5 years ago. Surely, someone should be able to improve on the code in the SKY box.

Sadly, I don't think anyone cares, as SKY doesn't have any competition out here - so why should they pay engineers to fix the lousy user experience?

MacBook Air Reviews

2008-01-24T11:30:00.001Z

Reviews for the McAir are starting to pop up, with my favorite quote so far from Walt Mossberg, the Wall Street Journal's respected technology / gadget columnist. He says:

"It's impossible to convey in words just how pleasing and surprising this computer feels in the hand. It's so svelte when closed that it's a real shock to discover the big screen and keyboard inside."

He does go on to mention some of the compromises made by Steve & Co to produce this small wonder, but that will only put off certain classes of users. He mentions frequent travellers as an example, but the main problem he sites is the lack of a replaceable battery. Surely it must be possible to have an external battery working through the MagSafe connector? That will solve that problem.

Additionally, I really don't use the optical drive on my notebook (a hefty Dell XPS) very often, and would happily go without. Al programs I need are available on the network / web.

The key figures I'm waiting for though, are benchmarks that show the battery life improvement and performance improvement of using the SSD (solid-state drive). The lack of moving parts should help the battery, and seek / load times should be faster, but no info has been released yet.

Another excellent quote comes from David Pogue, occasional columnist for the New York Times. He says:

"It's a stunningly beautiful aluminum slab, three-quarters of an inch thick. Its edges are beveled to look even thinner. When it's on a table, you might mistake this laptop for a placemat."

and

"But for anyone who shares Apple's admiration for elegance, the trade-off is worth it. This laptop's cool aluminum skin and smooth edges make it ridiculously satisfying to hold, carry, open and close. You can't take your eyes or your hands off it."

Personally, I can't wait to get my hands on one, even though I've been a long-standing Microsoft supporter. This thing is just too darn sexy :)

The WSJ review can be found here.

The NYT comments can be found here.

Technorati Tags: McAir,MacBook Air,MagSafe,Walt Mossberg

Virgin Galactic

2008-01-24T06:55:00.001Z

Space! The final frontier... For those with $200K for a ticket...

That may be a bit expensive but travelling at over 2500mph sounds really cool! Not just that, zero gravity too.

I have to say I haven't really thought about these new spacelines before. However, looking at these images provided by Virgin Atlantic, and reading the experience description on the website here, it certainly seems like something that would actually be worthwhile. Now they just need to get that pricetag to a more affordable level.

Technorati Tags: Space

iPhone sales fall short of O2 target

2008-01-23T08:34:00.001Z

According to FT, iPhone sales have fell short of targets for the 1st two months. Granted, that's only by 10 000, but most people (me included), expected actual sales to be 350K - 400K. Will this get Apple to cut the UK price?

FT.com / Home UK / UK - iPhone sales fall short of O2 target

Technorati Tags: Apple,iPhone

Zune

2008-01-23T06:47:00.001Z

No doubt about it, the iPhone / iPod Touch are amazing products, and just touching one of these is enough to give you goosebumps. The excellence of design, form and function pretty much punches you in the face, as it's impossible to miss.

Jobs & Co has once again managed to do something fantastic. Yes, I know they've been out for a while, but the popularity of these devices keep rising.

For all of this excitement though, there's one reason I won't be getting one... NO SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE!

Yep - you're expected to pay for EVERY SINGLE TRACK you download / stream from iTunes. I just don't want to buy music that way.

With Zune Pass, you get all you can eat music for a fixed fee of $14.99. That surpasses anything Apple has to offer at the moment, and the Zune software KEEPS GETTING BETTER!

Technorati Tags: Zune,Microsoft,Apple,iPod

BBC - iPlayer

2008-01-22T22:25:00.001Z

A quick rant about ~~iPlayer~~ Microsoft

If you haven't used it (and you live in the UK), I suggest you check it out immediately here. It's a great site, easy to use, VERY quick, and I would use that over the ~~retarded~~ inelegant SKY+ implementation any day. The limitations of SKY+ will have to wait for a later rant.

The iPlayer streams programs / movies, so there's no download and you have pretty much instantaneous access to anything that was broadcast during the past 7 days. This means if you missed something, forgot to set SKY+ to record it, you stupid SKY+ box just plain refused to record it, you can still watch it whenever. Extremely useful and the wife and I often catch up on some things or sample new shows on weekend mornings before getting up.

The primary drawback of the system is that there doesn't seem to be a way for me to get the content to my television without hooking up a computer. That just seems dumb...

While I have Vista Ultimate running on 2 laptops which are always around, neither of these are connected to my TV. I have an Xbox360 that we use as an extender, but that cannot stream the iPlayer streams as there's no Media Center component for it. A quick look at the SDK, and you realise you couldn't even do it as a quick 'hosted' HTML component, as that wouldn't give you the speed, and trying to create a 'native' component will not allow you to stream these flash format files, as the 360 only streams wmv...

To me it looks like MS is missing a trick here. Both the BBC and ITV is making all their programs for the past 7 days / month respectively available, and if I could access it natively as streams on the 360 (no long download before you start), the 360 would instantaneously become a MUCH more compelling part of most households, as it would no longer be relegated to being a 'games only' machine. The Xbox 360 should be able to do this without acting as an extender, which would further simplify the setup in most homes.

Sure this could be implemented quite easily by some of the guys at MS, so I'm not sure what the holdup is. perhaps they're waiting for the Silverlight release? - but I don't see that replacing the current flash implementation.

Can anyone shed light on this?

Technorati Tags: Xbox 360,Microsoft,SKY+,iPlayer

Breakfast Thoughts

2008-01-22T06:27:00.001Z

Global economic meltdown....

Global warming....

Potential US recession....

The middle of winter is approaching together with the worst day of the year - 24 January - due this week. Horrible weather, debt, extra flab from Xmas (interesting that flab doesn't make it into the official formula) - all these things contribute to my outlook, but at least I've started blogging, so I can share my misery with the world!

With all of these problems, it would be nice to focus on something positive everyday. The Free Game is probably the best we can hope for today.

UPDATE:

As the Fed has just announced a 0.75% rate cut - looks like we have more good news for the day! Now just need to watch and see if that's enough.....

Here in England, the effect on the FTSE has been positive at least.

Free Game!

2008-01-22T06:06:00.001Z

How about that! Microsoft is giving away a game to all XBOX Live users.

Always good in my book, though I haven't tried this title, the reviews and rankings look quite positive. I'll let you know later when I've had a chance to try it out :)

Undertow Reviews

Gaming - News - Microsoft free game giveaway 'this week' - Digital Spy

Technorati Tags: Games,Microsoft,XBOX360

Air

2008-01-21T19:38:00.001Z

The McAir is certainly a dream worth talking about. I find it absolutely ludicrous that a number of ~~idiots~~ people on the web are complaining about it, claiming it's not useful, doesn't have enough features, not light enough etc...

Bottom line, this thing looks incredible, and it's great that someone finally decided to get rid of the optical drive. The whiners need to realise that Jobs & Co do a few things very well - and great design is one of those things.

Now, you can of course argue that the design is not all there is, or that it's not perfect for you or your needs, but face it - it will appeal to LOADS of people.

What I can't figure out, is why Steve seems to be the only one on the planet that's figured out that beautiful (useful) things will sell better than ugly things, as he keeps repeating this little trick and no-one else even comes close.

Finally

2008-01-21T17:43:00.001Z

It's taken a while, and Web 2.0 is already well underway, with thousands of new startups trying to get that venture capital, and this time they presumably have business plans that are slightly better than 'We've got a great plan for a website that reminds you to buy chapstick in winter...." - yes that was the amazing plan behind echores, though I'm not sure what happened to them. That was back in the day - '98 I think - and living and working in silicone alley NYC gave me access to all these wonderful ideas :)

Now things have changed, and a number of VERY LARGE COMPANIES are quite successful. I find it interesting that some of the more promising (but over-hyped) businesses from the boom years are re-appearing, and this time round they seem to be doing quite well. A lot of this is related to improved infrastructure and improved access for everyone, so that suddenly 'always online' apps are starting to make a lot of sense. You have to wonder how long it will be before Sun drags out the 'Network is the computer' marketing plan....

But enough of that - the focus here is just to say I've finally started this blog, to comment on and try to improve a number of things. Along the way I hope to make some money, and perhaps influence a few people to create those products that I've always wanted.

That's the goal - DREAM BETTER.