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Entire Popular Science Archive Made Avaliable Online

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 09:27:51 +0000

The Popular Science magazine in conjunction with Google have made their entire archive of 137 years available online through Google book search. Every page has been converted to digital text allowing for text searched of specific articles from within the archive. “We’ve partnered with Google to offer our entire 137-year archive for free browsing. Each issue appears just as it did at its original time of publication, complete with period advertisements. It’s an amazing resource that beautifully encapsulates our ongoing fascination with the future, and science and technology’s incredible potential to improve our lives. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.” says popsci.com

There are some interesting resources available within the Popular Science archive such as some vintage post war materials

and some nifty tutorials,hacks and gadgets

Source: popsci.com

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Prototype Microsoft Mobile Surface PC one-ups iPhone

admin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:39:02 +0000

Microsoft Corp. researchers have shrunk down its Surface tabletop computer into a pocket-sized package that, with the aid of a few accessories, one-ups conventional touchscreen devices like Apple Inc.’s iPhone. Via Computerworld, read more…

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Pencil Printer

admin — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:34:48 +0000

Putting those unusable pencil stubs to good use? A concept by Hoyoung Lee over at Yanko Design which marries old tec with new tec with their graphite pencil printer which uses standard graphite pencils as the ink cartridge for printing documents. The concept is great aesthetically and practically. Graphite pencils are pretty cheap so running out of a cartridge is much less of a hassle then with conventional ink printers. the pencil printer concepts also includes a built in eraser which allows you to re use paper, another plus for environmental responsibility.

“So you don’t want to join pencil stubs and make a long pencil. No worries, we have another alternative, how about using them to print on paper. Yes, like a printer that uses pencil to print your documents. Traditional don’t you think? I feel the concept gets even more radical because it proposes the use of eraser to erase off mistakes! Do I hear my office scream in delight; no more cartridge woes!” explains the Yanko Design website

See the full concept here >>

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The Google Tablet Concept

admin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:00:53 +0000

Following the recent announcement by Apple to begin manufacturing and selling thier iPad tablet computer, Google decided to release some Google Chrome OS mockups illustrating how the Google tablet would look like, if it were to exist.

“On tablets, the UI would be adjusted to handle larger touch targets. Initial explorations have maintained the same basic chrome layout, but enlarged the controls. Icons could be placed above tabs to provide larger, square targets. Panels would be placed along the bottom edge and could be opened with upward dragging motions,” says Google

Click to enlarge

According to Google this mockup serves as an exploration of how a tablet like interface could work with the Google Chrome OS

“Keyboard interaction with the screen: anchored, split, attached to focus.
Launchers as an overlay, providing touch or search as means to access web sites.
Contextual actions triggered via dwell.
Zooming UI for multiple tabs
Tabs presented along the side of the screen
Creating multiple browsers on screen using a launcher”

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Linus Torvalds Loves His New Google Nexus One

admin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:03:26 +0000

Self-described cellphone cynic and “father of Linux” Linus Torvalds decided to get a Google Nexus One the other day. And while the customer service lines may be clogged over the phone’s performance, Daddy Linux is positively pleased as punch. Via Gizmodo, read more

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Run Firefox 3.6 From Your Flash Drive

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:45:59 +0000

Firefox 3.6 portable is a useful web browsing application as it runs completely and portably from your flash drive, saving its usage data and settings along side itself on your flash drive. Perfect for the traveller or internet cafe user, as this allows you to take your own browsing experience, along with you bookmarks and settings anywhere. Firefox Portable is basically the fully featured Firefox 3.6 web browser that has been slightly modified to run itself from a flash drive or any other portable media, and save it’s user data alongside itself, therefore leaving no trace of your activities on the host computer.

Portable applications are a wonderful solution for those who need the freedom of portability without the hassle of lugging around a laptop. Along with Firefox there is a superb collection of portable applications available online, like for instance a portable version Skype and a portable Open Office suite.

Portable Firefox is made available by PortableApps.com, who have taken the initiative to create an entire application suite of portable programs along with a fully featured portable start menu which allows for easy portable application management. Other portable resources include; the Wikipedia list of already portable applications.

Note: Portableapps.com software is available for Windows only, however many Linux and Mac software have portable capabilities.

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Mouse pointer track

admin — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:49:30 +0000

Mouse pointer track after 3 hours of working in Photoshop. Black circles are pointer stops. More…

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Creative Time Pieces

admin — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:29:23 +0000

Telling the time, something we rely heavily upon our devices to do so, time display is usually somewhat standard and boring in many cases. However when you mix time telling with innovative design, the result is some rather intriguing devices that are able to remain extremely aesthetic while sticking to their primary function of telling the time.Book Shelf LED Clock

Meisler Imprint Wall Clock

Rim Clock

Around About

Just A Moment Clock

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What Will USB 3.0 Mean?

admin — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:00:15 +0000

With USB 3.0 quickly seeping into mainstream hardware, many don’t quite understand it’s benefits or difference between USB2.0. In a nutshell USB 3.0 is a major improvement of speed and efficiency over the USB 2.0 standard. It will in theory enhance inter device connectivity.

Faster Transfers

With USB 3.0 comes ’superspeed’, USB 2.0 is only capably of ‘highspead’ data transfers, which means that one would be able to trasfer data over a USB 3.0 connection roughly 10 times faster, as superspeed equates to 4.8 Gbit/s of bandwidth. This is good news as high volume storage and back up devices, in the magnitude of terabytes, are increasingly becoming common.

The USB connector as a result has been modified to accommodate for this extra bandwidth. The new connector allows for bidirectional data transfer which means the data can move freely in both directions, unlike USB 3.0 which only allowed for data to move in one direction at a time.

More power

The USB 3.0 standard also means that more power will be supplied to the USB ports, more than the USB 2.0 standards. Enabling opportunities for mobile devices to be charged while connected to a PC, further more enabling higher powered devices to operate without the need to plug them into a wall socket.

Backward compatibility

USB 3.0 is fully backward compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 1.0 meaning that you can use it with older USB hardware and it will still work. Bearing in mind that if used with older USB standards, the maximum transfer speed would be that of the older device.

Adoption

USB 3.0 adotion has already proved to be faster than any other USB standard in history. According to In-Stat Research, one quarter of all USB 3.0 products will support superspeed by 2013.

Support

The Linux kernel already fully support the USB 3.0 standard, and other operating system are sure to follow suite. Certain hardware manufacturers are already beginning to dabble in USB 3.0 compliant hardware such as mother boards and assorted peripherals.

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Nexus One will struggle: Microsoft

admin — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:56:44 +0000

In the wake of the launch of Google’s Nexus One “super phone”, Microsoft has attacked the company’s mobile strategy. Google’s Android mobile phone software will struggle to make a major impact in the market now that the company has launched its own mobile phone, the Windows manufacturer has claimed. read more…

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