flickr flash polaroid viewer

This is a nice way to look at a collection of photos,  like a pile of Polaroids on a desktop.

Go here and get your flickr id

Paste it here and generate your own stream 

power cursor – tactile web interfaces

Power Cursor is a new style of web interface that uses tactile modeling to represent force feedback, all without leaving the browser.

linkage:  power cursor

howto script disable unnecessary services in winxp

In modern operating systems a whole new approach is opened once you start to script repetitive tasks so that you NEVER have to do them again. All you have to do is run the script – and that annoying task is completed. Computers are probably the easiest place in the world to automate a task, so why not start taking advantage of automation and script something today!

Having just reinstalled WinXP as my Vista RC2 is reaching the end of it’s [time limited, and performance restricted] lifespan, I took the time to tweak all the services that start up in a default install on WinXP. I disabled everything that I thought I safely could while still retaining a fully functioning system using guides I found online here. All seems to be running smoothly (and blindingly fast after Vista, even without the Omega video drivers). I did have to re-enable the HIDServ service (Human Interface Device service) which handles keyboards and the like . I found that the extra buttons on my keyboard (things like Play, and Track Advance, which I use so frequently) weren’t working with it disabled.

ultimate live performing rig

I have just posted this on VJ Forums

I am wondering what the ‘Ultimate’ (entry-level) live performing rig would consist of.

I am at the stage where I need to get a dedicated box, probably before a new years party next month.

I figure if I can work out what the ulitmate rig is, and the cost, I can take steps backwards until I hit my maximum price point.

I have been scrounging articles from around the place and have come up with a couple of possibilities. For obvious reasons a kick ass laptop would be pretty good. Nice and portable. Plenty of speed, and little power consumption. Something like an
Alienware Aurora™ m9700 or Sagar NP9890-V . The Alienware seem better specc’d with the Dual Sli cards. But there is a lot of bad talk about poor build quality and crappy service, 15% charges on returns etc etc. So I think it would be a bit silly to buy from them.

optoma HD70 projector and vista RC2 first look

I’ve been a busy wee beaver. In Canada the Beaver is a noble animal. No really. And I have been one. I haven’t seen one, but I have been one. I did see racoons the other night though. They are big. Big and fluffy. Completly uncaring of my presence nearby. Anyway I have been busy.

We got a projector a while back. An Optoma HD70. A budget range projector that can handle widescreen. We have been using it for a few weeks but have just returned it because the focus wasn’t sharp enough. I want the supplier to test it and tell me if that is normal, either for the HD70 or for any new HD projector in the budget category. I may have to get a better model but there is a real big jump in price. What to do.

We’ve also decided to get into the new age and get a VOIP handset. Haven’t really given it a run for its money yet, but will probably use Skype to surprise someone this weekend.

Also got a fat ish hard disk. Which I chucked in my pc last night. 320 GB is a big jump from 80 odd that was in there. Next stop Vista RC2.

After puzzling over the inability of my usb keyboard to activate the “Press any key to boot from CD ROM” I finally found a BIOS setting that enabled legacy PS2 support. That was completely un-related to Vista, just a motherboard setting I had wrong.That fixed I set about installing Windows Vista RC2

shiny binary

Stumbled across a talented artists website. A bunch of nice pics to downlaod for your desktop. Enjoy

linkage:  shiny binary

obi-wan the cursor – amazing project on make

So if you are like this guy with 4 screens and you sometimes loose which screen your cursor is on then you better just have a go at making an Obi-Wan 3d action figure cursor. I know I know. That doesn’t make much sense. Just watch the clip after the jump

non computer of the future, today. holograms? portable projectors? invisible pc?

I have been thinking a lot recently about converging technologies and the evolution of the PC and the interweb. Wondering what the average home pc will look like in five and then say ten years. This has all come about because I have been looking into a new pc. I don’t just want your average run of the mill pc. I have a few ideas coming together slowly and will post more on that as things develop.

The flip side is that I am reading some interesting tech articles and have come across a future solution, that is virtually available now. Imagine a small portable AV projector and a laser keyboard, you know, one of the ones where you project a keyboard onto a desk with a laser. Yeah. No I’m serious. When you press the pictures of a key on the desk you interrupt the beam and it can then tell where you have pressed.

OK so take a small portable projector and a holographic keyboard. Throw in a light pen that works the same way as a mouse. Press to click and extra buttons for options as well as special writing options/macros. All right you take these and slip them into your pockets. You’ll look like a bit of a nerd if you put the pen in your breast pocket, but if you have gadgets like these you can probably pull it of, just picture it:

You wander from your snazzy apartment out into the bustle of metropolitan life. You believe in not judging people but that can’t prevent the slight smirk from reaching the corners of your mouth anyway. All these smug ipod toters. Thinking they are the bomb with their little white headphones and portable mp3 doodads. Ah well. They’ll catch on soon for sure.

You pull into your friends coffee shop on the nearby highstreet and set your self up for a busy mornings work blogging. You unpack your tripod and extend the legs, angling the mini projector so it points at the wall across the table from you. You plug the cables into the wall sockets and power it on. The glow of the projector easily covers the 30 inch space in front of you. The glowing red keyboard materialises instantly on the table half in your cup of coffee. You move the coffee and take a seat. Taking the pen you click to open firefox and get to work.

Ah thats the life. So

l computers, super pc’s of the future, today

By now most people have come across Alienware in some form or other. For me it was a love affair via their website. One of those sites I would check out from time to time back in my gaming days, and drool over what amounted to the best gaming machines (and therefore best pc’s) money could buy. Or couldn’t in my case.

A friend turned up out of the blue from Korea one day sporting a live in the flesh Alienware laptop. What a beast. More of a mobile desktop than a laptop but that is what I desire anyway. ‘Portables’ are for wimps.
I was pretty surprised to stumble across the l computers website the other day. Alienware has some competition been supplanted as my no. 1 dream machine. It was that easy. Here’s why!

You need to see this website for it all to sink in. But take a look at snaps of their desktops and laptops after the jump.