Google Talk Helpful Virtual Friends

Digital Inspiration teaches you how to turn Google Talk into a helpful learning tool with a set of automated bots.
These "bots" act just like real people you can add to your friends list and are available 27/7 to help you whenever you need:


1. imfeeds@gmail.com - Add this IM Feeds bot as your Google Talk buddy and you’ll be able to read any blog or website that syndicates content via RSS feeds.
To subscribe to a website in GTalk, simply send a new IM message that says "sub abc.com" where abc.com is the address of the website / blog you want to read inside Google Talk.

2. friendfeed@imified.com - This secret bot lets you post to FriendFeed from Google Talk. You may submit either hyperlinks or text messages.

3. imified@imified.com - This imified bot turns Google Talk into a real powerhouse.
You can post bookmarks to delicious, send messages to Twitter, submit blog entries to WordPress, Tumblr or Blogger, manage events in Google Calendar, shorten long URLs, run whois and so on.

4. inezhabot@gmail.com - Like IM Feeds, iNezha bot helps you read feeds inside Google Talk but this is slightly more versatile. For instance, you can simply say "digg" and it will show a list of all feeds that match that search term so you don’t have to type (or copy-paste) feed addresses.

5. Translation - This is a free service from Google that helps you translate words from a foreign language into your native language. Just add the relevant bot (e.g. hi2en@bot.talk.google.com for Hindi to English or en2hi@bot.talk.google.com for English to Hindi) as your buddy, send him a message and it will get translated instantly.

6. Set Task Reminders - If you need to remember something important, Google Talk can send you reminders for that event.
Just add timer to your Twitter friend’s list and then add twitter@twitter.com to your buddy list in Gtalk. Now if you want to get a reminder after 50 minutes, send a direct message to twitter  like "d timer 50 pick kids from school" and a reminder will automatically pop up in your Google Talk after 50 minutes.

7. Transliteration - If you want to chat in your mother tongue (like Hindi or Tamil) but feel more comfortable using the English keyboard, Google Transliteration bot will come in handy.
For instance, add en2hi.translit@bot.talk.google.com to you friend’s list in GTalk and all messages you type in English will get transliterated in the language of your choice.  Available only for a few Indian languages.

Mythbusters CPU vs GPU Mona Lisa Paintball

You have to check this out.

On Nvidia's NVISION show, Adam and Jamie made a curious experiment to explain the difference between a CPU and GPU (in very very simple terms) - as referring to the traditional sequential pixel drawing versus parallel processing.

The results... must be seen to be believed. :)

Android Market Will be Free for All

Unlike Apple iPhone's App Store - which requires some shady approval methods (which no one really can understand - just look at what happened to Netshare: It was available, it was removed, it was put back on, it was removed again - without any explanation from Apple) Android will have its own easy to use repository to get all your software from.

But unlike Apple's "Store," it will be an Android "Market" meaning there's no approval process and anyone can make their software available without censorship.

Let's see how this turns out.

via [Android Developers Blog]

Serious iPhone Security Flaw

There's a huge security flaw on the iPhone.

The reason is the shortcut that allows you double click the main button to access your "favorite contacts."

While this is quite useful, it was not supposed to work while the iPhone is password protected!

While the iPhone is password locked, someone can enter the emergency call mode, and then perform the double click shortcut to get into your favorites.
While that might allow someone to call someone on your contact list in a real emergency - it also opens your entire contact list to any stranger picking up your locked iPhone.

Even worse, if any of your contacts has an email, he/she can click on it and enter your email app. Sending and reading your email. Likewise, if any has a URL, you can also click on it and have full access to the Safari Browser. The same happens with SMS as well.
(What is the purpose of that "password protection" after all?)


Meanwhile, you can change the double click action in the iPhone settings section to return to the home page or enter iPod mode - both work as exepected in password locked mode, keeping the intruder away from your data and unable to use your iPhone.

1. In the iPhone home, go to Settings.
2. Click on General.
3. Click on Home Button.
4. Select either "Home" or "iPod".

Nikon D90 with HiDef Video Capture

Here's something most prosumers and photo enthusiasts have been waiting for a long time, a video recording DSLR - and its none other then the brand new Nikon D90 capable of recording HD video.

You'll tell me: "but even lower cost cameras can do that, and have done it for some time now."

Well, yes... but those are usually compact cameras and not DSLRs... and although some DSLRs offered Live Preview, this is the first Nikon SLR capable of recording high-definition video.

(Although there are some limitations: 1280x720 @ 24fps and only 5 minute clips, and no focus changing - resulting in a 600MB file.)

But, don't forget its main purpose is taking photos, and it excels at that - after all... it's a Nikon, isn't it?

via [gizmodo e dpreview]

Google Suggest arrives at Google.com

After almost four years of exeperiences Google Suggest gets its primetime by arriving at Google's main page.

Google suggest allows you to easily select the relevant search query by showing you relevant searches as you type it on the search input box.

It has introduced in December 2004 as oine of the projects developed at Google Labs, and it quickly found its way to some of Google's services like Google News, Google Mobile, Google Maps and others...

Finally, it arrives at Google.com
It was about time!

iPhone 3G Reception Problems

A lot has been said about the iPhone 3G reception problems, with it showing a faint reception signal in places other phones show maximum signal strength.

Apple says it's a problem affecing just 2% of the iPhones, but its secrecy creates the perfect environment for "conspiracy thories" to pop up - both possible and probable ones as well as completely improbable and ridicule ones.

The last 2 "rushed" firmware updates have done little to fix these issues. And while I have never experienced those dreaded 3G connection problems affecting some users I'm still annoyed by having experienced the "keyboard slowdown" once (so far) after upgrading to the latest firmware version.

As for the real problems (the 3G connection issues) some swedish experts have testes some cellphones and found iPhone reception to be just fine.
They compared iPhone 3G  with a Nokia N73 and a Sony Ericsson P1 and found nothing wrong with the iPhone.

Which might help give somre credibility to those rumours saying iPhone's hardware is just fine and that these issues are due to improper settings making it more sensitive to 3G network variations.
While other cellphones will keep the 3G connection even if the signal drops to a weak level, the iPhone 3G will let go of the connection as soon as its quality level drops a bit and revert back to GPRS network.

Sure, this all depends on location and the existing network traffic, which might also help explain why some countries and areas have experienced these problems while others haven't.


Whatever the reason, there's no excuse for anyone buying an iPhone to be a "beta tester" to Steve Job's products.

Apple must fix these (and other) issues as quickly as possible and - more importantly - keep its customers informed about what they're doing. No more single wording "bug fixes" description on the firmware updates.
We're entitled to know what problems have been fixed.

As for me, I can tell Apple that the keyboard slowdown issue has definitely not been fixed in the latest 2.0.2 update!

(And do implement Copy-Paste once and for all!)

Interactive Video Cutout

Another demo of how much video processing has been evolving lately.

Everyone knows the popular green/blue screen effects used to insert someone in a virtual surrounding.

The problem is, doing the same kind of stuff with video captured without those uniform colored background is a lot harder, and usually involves going over each frame and manually cutting out the "foreground objects" from the background so you can then use it as you want.

However, this is now to become a lot simpler if this interactive cutout video process gets its way.



It still requires human intervention, but it can save hours of boring and error-prone cutting and allow anyone to create high quality video effects.



Interactive Video Cutout from pro on Vimeo.

[Interactive Video cutout]

Wireless Electricity

One of the last barriers keeping us from living a truly wireless life is about to smashed: wireless electricity!

That's right, we'll soon be able to kiss those dreaded power cables goodbye.

And while many companies have promissed that (and failed to deliver) I think this time it may be different, because it's none other than Intel itself saying it!

Intel has shown that it could transmit electricity wirelessly over a dozen inches with 75% efficiency (previous systems were only able to achieve 50% efficiency at best.)

So, it really seems we may have some cablefree gagdgets in the near future afterall.

Video Photo Processing

If you think you can believe what you "see" on a video, then check out this video showcasing some processing techniques.

From resolution improvement to high dynamic range images, and some amazing object patching and complete removal, as well as object replacement, it shows exactly why you can't believe what you see with your own eyes. :)


Using Photographs to Enhance Videos of a Static Scene from pro on Vimeo.

via [Engadget]

Google Secure Connection

Concerned about your Gmail security - particularly when on public hotspots?

Well, now you can to your Gmail Settings and select "always use https", Gmail will automatically use the secure https connection everytime. Until now, you had to manually type https://mail.google.com in the address bar.

"If you sign in to Gmail via a non-secure Internet connection, like a public wireless or non-encrypted network, your Google account may be more vulnerable to hijacking. Non-secure networks make it easier for someone to impersonate you and gain full access to your Google account, including any sensitive data it may contain like bank statements or online log-in credentials. We recommend selecting the 'Always use https' option in Gmail any time your network may be non-secure," explains Google.

Better safe than sorry...


UPDATE: do it now! An easy "gmail hacking tool" has been released that can hijack your gmail account used over an unecripted connection!

iBuddy for MSN Messenger Addicts

Can't keep away from MSN Instant Messenger for more than a coupls of seconds? Then this is the perfect gadget for you!

Meet the iBuddy. A nice looking toy that lights up and flips its wings whenever a buddy pops up in the messenger network.

You can customize its actions for up to 8 buddies, and it won't break the bank at just $20.

You desktop will certainly be a lot more fun! :)
(unfortunately, it only works with MSN Messenger - no Google Talk, ICQ, or any other instant messaging applications.)

[Brando via Gizmodo]

Toyota Winglet - Segway Killer?

Check out this video from Toyota's Segway Winglet, which you can even ride without using your hands.



Let's hope it will cost a LOT less than Segway's models.

Top 10 Open Source Easter Eggs

Hehe2 has compiled a nice list of cool easter eggs in Open Source projects.
Though most of them are quite famous and well-known, you may want to check it our - you never known what you might have missed all these years.

Amarok, Open office, Gnome,  and a few others... go check it out! :)


And don't forget the Robot easter Egg in Firefox.

How Google was Born

Today, it may have millions of Terabytes, but the first Google storage was only 40GB (10x 4GB hard drives - the bigger at that time) housed in a custom made high tech case... made out of Lego. :)

In 1996, Larry Page and Sergey Brin were Stanford University graduate students, working on their Digital Library Project, later known as Google. They needed a lot of storage, and the largest hard disk available was 4 gigabytes. So they connected ten of them together and built their own 40GB drive, in a case made of of Legos.

via [digg]

The tech in me: So many new world records in Olympic swimming...isn't that a bit suspicious?

This swimming pool is deeper than previous olympic pools, meaning there's a lot less "interference" in the water flow.

It was predicted well before the start of the games:

"Many people believe Water Cube to be the "fastest" Olympic pool^[7] in the world. It is 1 meter deeper than most Olympic pools. Up to a certain limit, beyond which swimmers will lose their sense of vision, deeper pools allow the waves to dissipate down to the bottom, leading to less water disturbance to the swimmers. The pool also has perforated gutters on both sides to absorb the waves. Coupled with the newly introduced faster Speedo LZR Racer swim suit, it is expected that many records will fall in the Beijing Olympics."

from wikipedia



I also think it's not really fair to compare times performed under different circumstances but that has happened a lot in all events throughout the years, from faster swim suits, to composite jumping poles, to faster bikes, etc. etc.

32GB and 64GB SSDs Upgrade for Eee PC

So you love your Eee PC but you're tired of the limited SSD space and its poor performance?

Then you better stay tuned to these PCI-e SSD modules from Buffalo which will hopefully make you feel better:

• 32GB  will cost you $150 
• 64GB version will be $300

 Now we just need some benchmarks to see how fast they really are.

via [Engadget]

MSI Wind DIY 9 cell Battery

Are you tired of waiting for MSI Wind's 6 cell battery?

Why not forget about it and go all the way to a 9 cell battery offering you about 9h of non-stop mobile computing?

That's exactly what a DIY'er did, stitching 9 cells together.
It may not look pretty, but it certainly gets the job done!

Hey MSI, are you listening? No more excuses, no more delays... we need these bigger batteries. :)

via [liliputing]

Accelerate your iPhone with Dynolicious

Today I'll show you how you can turn your iPhone into the fastest gadget on the market.
All you need is to head to the App Store and get Dynolicious.

It's a analysis and logging program that keeps track of the accelerometer built into your iPhone. Now you too can keep track of your vehicle performance, just like they do with professional racing cars and their telemetry data.

(Just for reference, people have been using Nintendo's Wii Wiimotes for the same purpose for the exact same thing - but this iPhone version certainly makes it a lot easier)

Surprisingly, the results seem to satisfy even car tuning experts (though some points still need some working out) saying it's well worth the 10,49€ it costs.
(Once again, please explain me why we - europeans - need to pay extra for the exact same thing? This program costs $12.99 USD in the US, which should be roughly a little over 8 Euros - not 10!)

So, what can you get from Dynolicious?

    * 0-60 MPH
    * Other Speed Tests (0-10 MPH through 0-100 MPH in 10MPH increments)
    * Quarter Mile Elapsed Time
    * Quarter Mile Trap Speed
    * Elapsed Time and Trap Speed for standard intervals (60', 330', 1/8 Mi, 1000')
    * Lateral G's (current and peak)
    * Braking G's (current and peak)
    * Wheel Horsepower
    * Estimated Engine Horsepower
    * Realtime Speedometer and Graphs
    * Realtime graphical skidpad display
    * View results for latest test run or any saved run
    * View averages based on vehicle, date, or modification
    * Compare results between vehicles, dates, or before-and-after modifications

via [gizmodo]

What about your Breakedancing skills?

Simply... breaking! :)

Auditory Illusions

I have alerady shown you some optical illusions before, but did you know there are auditory illusions as well?

And, if some of those aren't really that impressive, this one certainly is. :)

Just listen to the following clip:



Did you listen to it? Now, keep playing it whenever it ends, and listen closely.
It seems it is alwasy going higher and higher every single time - even thought it's always the same clip.

That's known as Shepard's scale and it's pretty impressive, isn't it?

Firefox to Lend a Hand to Internet Explorer

Just to prove how friendly Firefox and Internet Explorer development teams really are, see what they have done:

As Microsoft's Internet Explorer lags behind the implementation of the latest HTML standards - in this case the canvas element from HTML5 - one of Mozilla's engineers has decided to add that support to IE by creating an Active X for that purpose.

The web can only move forward if browsers really follow these HTML standards. Otherwise, few people would develop a "next-gen" web 3.0 site if they knew people using IE would be unable to see it as it's intended.

This way, even if Microsoft has no plans on supporting HTML standards (something that has caused major headaches for web developpers  for as long as I can remember) Mozilla has done the job for them.


What have we come to... Mozilla helping Internet Explorer... geeezzzz

And if you're curious about this "canvas" thing, check out what it can do: a 3D FPS game (also available in a textured version.)

XACTI DMX-HD800

There's no better way to start this post than saying:
"I'd really love having one of these right now!"

While on vacations, having a HD digital video camera is essential - but this isn't any ordinary video camera; it's a Xacti from Sanyo.
More precisely, the brand new DMX-HD800, which replaces its older version - which was considered one of the best in the market.

So, what has Sanyo come up with? They took their best camera and made it even better!

• 8.0 megapixel 1/2.5-inch CMOS sensor
• SD/SDHC 
• 5x optical zoom
• 2.7-inch LCD
• AVC/H.264 video

And you can now easily drag and drop your video files to your PC, just like you do on a regular USB Flash disk.


If you're looking for a 720p video camera, then keep a close eye on this Xacti.

via [engadget]

MPAA Wants to Contol YOU

Have you heard about what MPAA wants to try next?

Better than reading about it, is watching this short videoclip:



Will they ever learn?
Can't we just send the Joker have a talk with them?
Why are they always "so serious"?

Multitouch Sphere from Microsoft

Another technological demo, this time with a "Surface" on a sphere which certainly opens up a lot of possibilities in interactive display technology.
(Reminds me of the time I spend, as a child, playing with a earth globe - the ones with a tiny dot of light you could move to pinpoint a location on the map - how could I imagine that a few decades later I could zoom in on Google Maps to see my own car parked in front of my home. :)


[Youtube video]

Clean up Vista SP1

Do you use Windows Vista?

Then you'll probably have Vista SP1 installed, right?

Do you want to get nearly 1GB of disk space? If so, keep reading...

When you install Vista SP1, it keeps backups of all your previous files - in case you want to uninstall it at some point. However, as it doesn't make any sense to ever go back to your previous Vista, we're better off cleaning up all that junk and recover the extra disk space.
Just open your command prompt and type:

vsp1cln.exe 

(short for Vista SP1 Clean-up)

And before you lknow it, you'll have lots more free space on your hard disk.

via [labnol]

Asus Goes Wild - Launches 26 Eee PC Models

Do you remember the time you could say: "Hey, I just bought an Eee PC!" - and everyone would instantly know what you were talking about?.

Now, if you try that, someone will ask you back:
- Great, but what model did you get: the 701, 900, 901, 1000, 1000HD, etc.?

But that's not all - just wait until you see what ASUS is preparing for the near future:

That's right. Nothing less than 23 Eee PC models!

Ordered according to 3 tiers: Casual, Pro, and Ultimate; you'll need to spend quite some time weighing pros and cons for each model.

(... or you can always save some time, trouble and money and go for the Aspire One! :P :)

via [Engadget]

Camera Based Virtual DJ Mixer

How about drawing your own DJ mixer table and scratchpad?

See the results:



As processing power improves, I guess we'll start seeing more and more of this kind of interaction in the near future..

Tenori-On on iPhone

Have you heard about  Yamaha music gadget called Tenori?
Well, it allows you to easily create and morph audio samples and rythms and impresses everyone.

Well, soon you'll be able to try it out on your iPhone - which will certainly be a lot cheaper than buying a real one!



As good as the original, isn't it? :)



via [gizmodo]

Firewire Speed-up Approved by IEEE

Seems like Firewire is here to stay. IEEE has just approved the speedier Firewire 1600 and 3200 upgrade to the existing 400 and 800 implementations.

(Firewire is the popular name of the communication standard IEEE 1394)

If you think they should drop this and use USB for everything, keep in mind that - while its theoretical speeds may be similar, they're fundamentally different:Firewire uses a "peer-to-peer" communication system, USB uses a "master-slave" approach.

(Just plug a couple of external USB hard drives to a PC and compare its performance with another PC having the same number os Firewire external hard drives - and you'll see what I mean. :)


via [Crunchgear]

Cellphones and WiFi - the new Plague?

Every week, we come up with studies raising caution about how bad cellphones and wireless computer networks might be for our health.

Right or wrong, one thing is certain: some people are already accusing these equipments to be the new cigarettes - and that like it happened before, that a lot of people are keeping the truth from public knowledge and discrediting these studies..

I sincerely don't know what's the case here. I don't know if those electromagnetic and radiofrequency radiations are bad for our health. I mean - I'm pretty sure it isn't "good" for us; but the question is: are they really bad enough to cause harm? That's the billion dollar question.

But let's consider that, for a moment; it has been proven that cell phones and WiFi networks are indeed harmful for your health in the long term - just like smoking.


I don't know how government and industry agencies would deal with it. If past performance is an indication, they would keep denying it for decades, and then slowly admiting that *maybe* it was indeed harmful. And then they'd introduce warnings on cell phones and WiFi devices with stickers like: "Warning - this WiFi router may be harmful to your health" "Danger - this Cell phone can Kill you" and so on...

But what I'd really like to know us: what would you do about it?
If you knew, for certain, that your cellphone - the one next to your right now - would considerably increase your chance to get cancer, and all those Wifi networks and hotspots surrounding you had the same effect... what would you do about it?

Would you still keep using your cell phone as usual, even next to your own kids - just like many smokers keep doing?
Or would you ditch your cell phones and turn odd your Wifi routers and look for "radiation free" zones wherever you went?

Today, this is an hypotethical question, but who knows... maybe we'll really have to decide what do to do about it sooner thanwe think.

Tethered iPhone with NetShare

A lucky few were able to get a highly requested program from Apple's AppStore this morning: it's called NetShare.

Besides being developed by the same people who brought us Installer, it finally allows us to use our iPhones as a Modem. Unfortunately it was removed after a short while.

This is completely unjustified. Just because some operators don't allow you to use your cell in tethered mode (or charge you extra for it) there are a lot other operators that do!
iPhone is now distributed worldwide, and we're entitled to using it as we want.


Besides, if people have been doing it anyway with many other brands of phones, why should the iPhone be treated differently?

Please get Netshare back on the App Store, soon!

[Update]

It din't take long... Netshare is back on the App Store. :)

Now... if only Apple was as fast implementing the missing copy-paste issue... :)

Holidays

Holidays at last!

I'll be back in 3 or 4 weeks.

Meanwhile, I'll try posting some news when/if I can, or insert some scheduled posts.
[update: I was able to set scheduled posts for most of the time I'll be away, so - you'll have something to read anyway. :) ]

But, it's vacation time - time to stay away from the computer! :)

See you all back soon.

... You can find me somewhere around here:

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