This isn;t your usual pocket change project like I usually call your attention to, but if you’ve priced commercially produced HD projectors, it’s a deal. Add a little of your own Tightwad engineering to the project and it could get cheap.
It’s really hard to say how much of a value this DIYHD projector is, given we’re missing some crucial specs like resolution (gotta be at least 720p, right?), contrast ratio, and luminosity. Still, at €500 (about $708 US) for the whole kit, it’s not a bad deal if you planned on spending your weekend doing projects anyway. (Endgadget)
Thermographic imaging can be incredibly useful. From finding what component in your computer is running too hot to finding energy sucking air leaks around the house, it’s worth building one if you don’t have to spend large on it. Inventor Joern Loviscach explains:
Thermographic cameras are still far too expensive for everyday use. But here are two ways of adding some software and hardware to use an infrared thermometer almost like a thermographic camera. http://www.j3L7h.de/
Using an IR thermometer, there are two ways to go about building a thermographic camera. The first uses a pan and tilt head. Scan lines are emulated, as a computer controls panning from left to right, taking a temperature sample from each step. Vertical resolution is accomplished by tilting. Another method uses a web cam attached to the thermometer (Hack a day)
This is so stupid I don’t even know where to begin. A company contracted with SF Muni to put geolocators on all their buses. Another company built a iPhone app to notify the user when the next bus is to arrive. The other company is suing for IP infringement not on where the bus IS but on the PREDICTION of when the bus is expected to be. Got that? –
We’ve had quite a few stories in the past about various public transportation authorities trying to stop others from creating iPhone apps that indicate train/bus schedule information. Often, the transit organizations claim intellectual property over the matter, saying that they want the ability to license the data themselves, or to sell iPhone apps themselves. This strikes many as being incredibly short-sighted. The core business of the transit groups should be to get more people using the trains and buses. Having good iPhone apps out there (often for free) would seem to get more people to use public transportation, and that benefit likely outweighs any money received from selling $5 iPhone apps.
However, a few people have sent in a story from San Francisco, where things are a bit more complex. The basics do seem to be the same, with a guy named Steven Peterson creating an iPhone app called Routesy to tell you when your Muni bus is arriving, only to have it shut down after complaints that it was violating intellectual property. Where it gets a bit more complex, is that it’s not the public transit authority, Muni, that’s complaining. In fact, Muni claims that it owns the data and says the public is entitled to use it (in fact, it claims to encourage it).
First of all this is a microniche market so small that I can’t even imagine that either party could afford the lawyers to engage in this. The filings alone would probably bankrupt them both.
Second this is why I like FOSS. The front end with multiple license types can be a problem. But the back end is generally simpler. You develop an application knowing you don’t own the baseline code only your expression or representation of the idea having used that code. Oddly, FOSS would not help in the situation above.The gripe the parties above have are outside the realm of what code base someone is using. It also points out that IP law is getting to the point of ridiculous.
It seems like half the world is swimming in a gush of data. Some have estimated that the equivalent of all that was known in 1950 is added to the body of man’s knowledge every year. And increasing. Guess what? Increasingly that information is in a machine readable format not in a book, Kindle aside. Comes in all sorts of formats — .CSV, JSON, DOC, and XML for example.
All well and good you say. But don’t I need something to read it? Of course just like you use Open Office or MS Office to read a word document. Fortunately it can be as simple as using a web browser. For example RSS which is a common syndication format is nothing more than a specialized version of an XML formatted document. Firefox can read that right? Yep. So technically you can use Firefox to read any XML document out there. Whether it makes sense or can be sliced and diced easily is another matter. But the fact is Firefox can pluck data out for you.
There are XML readers out there as well. XMLReader3000, RssReader, Liquid XML Studio are just a few that are available for use in Linux and Windows. XML editors? It can be any text editor you like. From VI or Notepad all the way up to something like AltaNova XML editor. The only real requirement is that whatever you use be able to output in a ascii text format.
The next notch up of course is programming. Choices are unlimited here. Depending on your language of choice there is a XML library to match. Python for example has lxml to manipulate XML. It is one of the fastest libraries out there. If you want to try it, I have provided install instructions here.
One of the reasons that XML is so popular? it can be a drop in to a html page with little effort. You could for example pull the zipcode data for your area. Do a filter with it against a XML database and present that filtered set as part of a web page.
In reading a article on the history of the mainframe at Tom’s Hardware, I’m reminded that the basic architecture of the system on your desk or lap has it’s roots firmly planted in the 60’s. That’s right, technological leaps forward found in the room filling System 360 made IBM dominant are still dominant in the smaller and more powerful devices we all use today.
I’m reminded that my computing life began feeding tapes to one of this lumbering beast’s successors in the wee hours of the night. The article is a nostalgic trip for the senior techie and a real eye opener for those who socialize on a laptop after school.
I’m also reminded that we may be due for the next big shift in architecture. As the limits of etching silicon have nearly been reached and the ability to create software to utilize ever more cores in multiprocessor technology becomes more difficult the time for a shift is here.
As bonfide Tightwads, we never spend large to get the hottest new CPU. Last year’s hottest model at 1/10 the price is usually good enough. In fact, according to Facebook’s VP of tech ops Jonathan Heiliger. last year’s may be just as good.
“The biggest thing (that) surprised us is … less-than-anticipated performance gains from new microarchitectures — so, new CPUs from guys like Intel and AMD. The performance gains they’re touting in the press, we’re not seeing in our applications,” Heiliger said. “And we’re, literally in real time right now, trying to figure out why that is.”
The hardware industry has also fallen short when it comes to delivering very power-efficient servers to carry out a limited set of functions for companies such as Facebook and Amazon, Heiliger said. He had some words for server OEMs (original equipment manufacturers).
“You guys don’t get it,” Heiliger said. “To build servers for companies like Facebook, and Amazon, and other people who are operating fairly homogeneous applications, the servers have to be cheap, and they have to be super power-efficient.” That means more than just an efficient power supply, but a whole system down to the processor, he said. Google has done a great job designing and building its own servers for this kind of use, Heilinger added.
There are several things that favor this board if you want to build a HTC. The PSU/Brick 90w supply is included. No Fan so it will be quiet. DVI and HDMI outputs. 6 channel audio. 6 USB, LAN, plus all the usual PC connector too.
Now the price of $160 sounds high compared with say a PIV Mobo CPU combo. But a 90w PS usually runs around $25. The PSU header/splitter is usually $25-35. So the board itself is priced at around $100. Its a new intro as well so expect the prices to come down. Maybe $70 for the board by Christmas?
NewEgg has this available for online order. NewEgg is a Tightwad partner.
It is already illegal to manually use a cell phone for texting or calling while driving in New Jersey. A state legislator has aimed at the next in-car distraction: GPS devices. Democratic Assemblyman Harvey Smith wants a ban on manually programming GPS devices while driving. You would need to pull over to input your destination, or have a voice-operated unit. Punishment otherwise would be a $100 fine.
Probably every single one of us has had to drive defensively around someone who was obviously not paying attention to their driving. At this point, the question in New Jersey is how many activities are they going to ban? And what makes a GPS unit worse than an MP3 player or those folks who drive with their knees while they eat?
Another Assemblyman, John Wisniewski, had proposed a blanket ban on distracted driving in 2006 but that was passed over in favor of the cell phone-specific ban. New Jersey also already has a law against careless driving, which carries a $100 fine and two points on your license. Smith’s proposed law would give New Jersey officers — Smith is an undersheriff — a specific behavior to target, but it all seems a bit scattershot in light of the copious distracting activities drivers engage in.
So the Nannyism marches on. Of course this is not unexpected, many States now have cell phone laws with the same effect. As a behavior it is all tied together — the inability to focus. I have the theory that there is a segment of the population who have a brain wired to a preference for sensory overload, all in all the time. Like a ‘runners high’ and when they don’t get it they go into a lowered mental state. All the tech toys feed into that need for sensory input.
First, Microsoft has kicked off a “Get the Facts” browser campaign that is long on hyperbole and short on facts. Reading Microsoft’s browser comparison chart, one would think that using Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome is a fast track to leprosy: IE apparently dominates in security, privacy, ease of use, healing the sick, and causing the lame to walk.
Speaking of “lame,” IBM’s Savio Rodrigues warns us to not be fooled by comparison tables that dramatically favor one product over others. Internet Explorer has gotten better over the years (It only had one way to go), but Microsoft’s claims aren’t even credible when it skews the results so dramatically in its favor.
We touched on the IE8 browser situation in a post concenring a Australian treasure hunt piece. But there is more –
As if this browser desperation weren’t enough, Microsoft has kicked off a second initiative that reveals just how unloved its “innovation” has become. Microsoft has confirmed its 18-month Windows 7 to XP downgrade policy.
There are very good reasons for software vendors to prod customers into staying current with software releases, but it is amazing just how hard Microsoft has had to work to convince Windows customers to leave XP. Apple and Linux customers seem to upgrade to their latest and greatest operating systems, while Microsoft customers seem to be pining for the good ol’ Windows days.
It’s one thing to have an upgrade policy. Having to articulate a downgrade policy is a signal of Microsoft defeat, not victory.
The excerpts above are from Matt Asay piece Two clues Microsoft is losing its way. Full piece here.
Is it correct? Well partially. It is certain that in at least what appears to be the Desktop/Office Components section they have. Stodgy might be a way to assess the situation.
But again I don’t expect the collapse of Microsoft. They have inertia that keeps them going in spite of themselves. That comes from OEM and corporate licensing fees. The investment that has been made in Microsoft products assures that they won’t just go poof! Microsoft will go from ‘being the pond’ to the ‘big fish in the pond’.
Given the right circumstances it might be the best thing to ever happen to MS. A little competition cleanses the soul and clears the cobwebs.
VI, as a startup has been around for a couple of years. Had a great product with a emphasis on excellent tools management of the Xen server space. They were acquired by Oracle about a month back. Well Oracle is not resting on the acquisition —
Oracle acquired Virtual Iron last month for an undisclosed fee, and last week, it told VI partners it would effectively kill the company’s existing product before the end of the month.
During today’s webcast, Oracle confirmed that it will no longer develop or sell the existing version of Virtual Iron - though it will continue to support the product. The company will “do its best” to provide licenses to existing customers until June 30 - if certain criteria are met.
“So basically, anyone that built their hosting infrastructure on VI…is now totally in the shit,” one partner told The Reg last week. “Unless they buy a whole bunch of licenses before the end of June, they will be unable to buy any more node capacity for their clusters. Oracle are shutting down the product, without giving customers some sort of replacement. That’s a huge customer/partner channel shafting.”
Ummm, never stopped Oracle before. Oracle is only second to Mircosoft n the number of suits filed against it. Anyway back to VI. With this move to develop Oracle VM essentially VI ceases to exist as a product/business. If you are a VI customer I would highly suggest looking at whoever was your number 2 pick during the assessment phase. Oracle will give you no end of licensing grief.
