me and my wife on the beach.....
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Monday, October 16, 2006
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Should we now rate Google Earth as PG for Brief Nudity ????
Should we now rate Google Earth as PG for Brief Nudity ????Imagine having a quiet afternoon’s sunbathing on your private, secluded, back patio - and then one day discovering that your nearly naked body has been posted all over the Internet!
Whilst this isn’t the first time someone has been caught with their kit off in Google Earth, to my eye, it seems that what little clothes are actually being worn, are… ahem - the kind most commonly worn by the fairer sex, shall we say?
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Douglas Engelbart: The Demo
Ok, so for a little history on computers design. This time about GUI development, and the Demo by Dougals Engelbart on Human Interfaces for computers, back in 1968... this is the first time ever someone uses what later was dubbed as THE MOUSE. Very interesting video to watch. It's over 1hr long, so be patient.
Douglas Englebart completed his degree in electrical engineering in 1948 and settled down in a nice job at the NACA Institute (the forerunner of NASA). However, one day while driving to work he had an epiphany: he realized that his real calling as an engineer was not to work on small projects that might only benefit a few people. Instead, he wanted to work on something that would benefit all of humanity. He recalled Bush's essay and started thinking about ways in which a machine could be built that would augment human intellect. During the war he had worked as a radar operator, so he was able to envision a display system built around cathode ray tubes where the user could build models of information graphically and jump around dynamically to whatever interested them.
Finding someone to fund his wild ideas proved to be a long and difficult task. He received his PhD in 1955, and got a job at the Stanford Research Institute, where he received many patents for miniaturizing computer components. By 1959 he had earned enough recognition to receive funding from the United States Air Force to work on his ideas. In 1962, Douglas published his ideas in a seminal essay entitled "Augmenting Human Intellect." In this paper, Douglas argued that digital computers could provide the quickest method to "increase the capability of a man to approach a complex problem situation, to gain comprehension to suit his particular needs, and to derive solutions to problems." He envisioned the computer not as a replacement for human intellect, but a tool for enhancing it. One of the first hypothetical examples he described for this technology was of an architect designing a building using something similar to modern graphical CAD software.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Friday, September 22, 2006
Cydonia - the face on Mars
ESA's Mars Express has obtained images of the Cydonia region, site of the famous 'Face on Mars.' The High Resolution Stereo Camera photos include some of the most spectacular views of the Red Planet ever.After multiple attempts to image the Cydonia region from April 2004 until July 2006 were frustrated by altitude and atmospheric dust and haze, the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board Mars Express finally obtained, on 22 July, a series of images that show the famous 'face' on Mars in unprecedented detail.
The data were gathered during orbit 3253 over the Cydonia region, with a ground resolution of approximately 13.7 metres per pixel. Cydonia lies at approximately 40.75° North and 350.54° East.
"These images of the Cydonia region on Mars are truly spectacular, They not only provide a completely fresh and detailed view of an area famous to fans of space myths worldwide, but also provide an impressive close-up over an area of great interest for planetary geologists, and show once more the high capability of the Mars Express camera."
Cydonia is located in the Arabia Terra region on Mars and belongs to the transition zone between the southern highlands and the northern plains of Mars. This transition is characterized by wide, debris-filled valleys and isolated remnant mounds of various shapes and sizes.Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Anyone Know The Way To San José?
Visitors to Costa Rica who insist on driving themselves do so with intuition and pure luck on not getting lock in the face of poor or lack of road signs directing them to their destination or warning of a dangerous curve ahead.The lack of or poorly maintained directional and warning signs provoke problems for vacationers as they drive groping along the way kilometre after kilometre, in the hope they are going the right way.
And the situation gets worse at night as landmarks are completely lost to the darkness.
In some cases, lack of proper road signalization has resulted in accidents, some fatal, like the accident last week in Cartago, when two tourists died in an accident in the centre of old city. Poor signalization was the cause.
And like centre of Cartago, other cities like Alajuela, Heredia and San José, have similar problems. Missing stop or one way signs, for example, can leave a visitor totally lost and driving in the wrong direction of a one way street.
Outside of major centres, lack of or poor signage can leave a visitor completely lost or losecontrol of their vehicle.
A poll by the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) taken at the Juan Santamaría (San José) international airport shows that three out of 10 visitors give poor to bad marks to the signalization on the country's roads.
The vice-minister of the Transportes, Viviana Martín, blames the problem on the previous government, who did not dedicate sufficient resources to road signs.
Add to that signs that have been knocked down, run over, rusted out and plain out stolen, who turn around and sell them for the metal content.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Firm behind eDonkey to pay $30 million to avoid piracy claims
LOS ANGELES - The firm behind popular online file-sharing software eDonkey has agreed to pay $30 million to avoid potential copyright infringement lawsuits from the recording industry, according to court documents filed Tuesday.
New York-based MetaMachine Inc. was one of seven technology firms to receive letters from the recording industry last fall warning them to shut down or prepare to face lawsuits.
Since then, the operators of BearShare, i2Hub, WinMX, Grokster and Kazaa have reached similar agreements.
"With this new settlement, another domino falls, and we have further strengthened the footing of the legal marketplace," Mitch Bainwol, chairman and chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America, said in a statement.
Under terms of the latest agreement, MetaMachine and its top executives, Sam Yagan and Jed McCaleb, agreed to immediately cease distributing eDonkey, eDonkey 2000, Overnet and other software versions.
The company also agreed to take measures to prevent file-sharing by people using previously downloaded versions of the eDonkey software.
A federal judge in New York, where the settlement agreement was filed, must still give final approval to the terms of the deal.
A call to eDonkey CEO Sam Yagan was not immediately returned.
The eDonkey Web site on Tuesday featured a message from the company telling visitors that the eDonkey2000 Network was no longer available, and a warning that people who steal music or movies are breaking the law.
The message concluded with "Goodbye Everyone."
EDonkey has been the most popular file-sharing network the last two years, but most of the computer users tapping into the hub of linked PCs have increasingly done so using an open-source version of the eDonkey software dubbed eMule, said Eric Garland, chief executive at BigChampagne Online Media Measurement, which tracks online entertainment.
Because many computer users still have functional versions of eDonkey or eMule, it's unlikely the shutdown of eDonkey's business operations will have much of an impact on people file-swapping on the eDonkey network, Garland said.
"These (peer-to-peer) networks have largely moved out of the hands of these companies and into the hands of developers and end users all over the world," Garland said. "A week from now, a month from now, six months from now - we're still going to see eDonkey populations."
Several file-sharing services have yet to reach settlements with the recording industry, including Warez P2P, Limewire and Soulseek.
In August, the recording companies filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the firm behind LimeWire. That case is pending.
New York-based MetaMachine Inc. was one of seven technology firms to receive letters from the recording industry last fall warning them to shut down or prepare to face lawsuits.
Since then, the operators of BearShare, i2Hub, WinMX, Grokster and Kazaa have reached similar agreements.
"With this new settlement, another domino falls, and we have further strengthened the footing of the legal marketplace," Mitch Bainwol, chairman and chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America, said in a statement.
Under terms of the latest agreement, MetaMachine and its top executives, Sam Yagan and Jed McCaleb, agreed to immediately cease distributing eDonkey, eDonkey 2000, Overnet and other software versions.
The company also agreed to take measures to prevent file-sharing by people using previously downloaded versions of the eDonkey software.
A federal judge in New York, where the settlement agreement was filed, must still give final approval to the terms of the deal.
A call to eDonkey CEO Sam Yagan was not immediately returned.
The eDonkey Web site on Tuesday featured a message from the company telling visitors that the eDonkey2000 Network was no longer available, and a warning that people who steal music or movies are breaking the law.
The message concluded with "Goodbye Everyone."
EDonkey has been the most popular file-sharing network the last two years, but most of the computer users tapping into the hub of linked PCs have increasingly done so using an open-source version of the eDonkey software dubbed eMule, said Eric Garland, chief executive at BigChampagne Online Media Measurement, which tracks online entertainment.
Because many computer users still have functional versions of eDonkey or eMule, it's unlikely the shutdown of eDonkey's business operations will have much of an impact on people file-swapping on the eDonkey network, Garland said.
"These (peer-to-peer) networks have largely moved out of the hands of these companies and into the hands of developers and end users all over the world," Garland said. "A week from now, a month from now, six months from now - we're still going to see eDonkey populations."
Several file-sharing services have yet to reach settlements with the recording industry, including Warez P2P, Limewire and Soulseek.
In August, the recording companies filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the firm behind LimeWire. That case is pending.
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