SSD Tweak Utility

If you're a proud owner of a SSD (Solid State Drive) and want to make the most out of it without going through endless pages of SSD tweaks and doing it one-by-one by hand, here's: SSD Tweak Utility.

With just a couple mouse clicks you'll be able to optimize your Windows for SSD use by enabling/disabling features that were meant to be used with rotating drives.
Things like defragging and indexing no longer make sense in these faster and instant-access SSD drives and are often, counter-productive.

Lockheed Martin HULC

It won't turn you into Hulk, but it well get close. This HULC is an exoskeleton developed by Lockheed Martin (for the military) allowing soldier to carry heavy backpacks with little effort.



Now... it's just a matter of time this type of technology makes its way to more mundane jobs like heavy duty workers in construction or industrial settings.

DIPLOMA: Augmented Reality Rail Shooter

One more example of what's to come. This DIPLOMA project uses augmented reality and a Nintendo Wiimote to provide a truly immersive game experience.

Nothing like watching the video to see how it works:


DIPLOMA : Immersive Rail Shooter from David Arenou on Vimeo.


In a realted note, I had the opportunity to play around a bit with a 3D camera, with the same kind of technology that will be used by Microsoft's Project Natal. That thing is simply... AMAZING!
I'll be writing a more detailed review in the following days, but I'm now sure this will really be a big revolution (at least, technology-wise: these 3D cameras cost well over $8000, and MS's Natal is expected to be sold under $100... I just hope it will be "open enough" for us to use in our projects, kind of like what is done with the Wiimote. :)
 

Gmail with Search Autocomplete, Vacations and custom Label colors

It won't be nothing new for all those already using these features from the Gmail Labs section, but now they have graduated to the official Gmail:

1. Search Autocomplete
   - searching is now easier than ever...
2. Go To Label
   - pressing "g" and "l" for the keyboard shortcut aficionados  will take them to a "label:" seach.
3. Forgotten Attachment Detector
   - no more embarrassing emails with no attachments
4. YouTube Previews
   - no need to jump to another page to watch a YouTube video
5. Custom Label Colors
   - at last... you can break free from Gmail labels preset color schemes.
6. Vacation Dates
   - Holidays without email worries...

All quite useful - hence their graduation to Gmail... :)

On the other hand, five other Gmail Labs features of "not so much interest" have been removed:

1. Muzzle
2. Fixed Width Font
3. Email Addict
4. Location in Signature
5. Random Signature

iRinger - Create your iPhone Ringtones

If you'd like to create your own ringtones for your iPhone but have failed to do ti "by hand", following those messy tutorials on the internet, let me help you do it in a much simpler way: you'll just need to use iRinger,

You can start with any audio file, select your favorite part of the song, and even apply some audio effects.
In the end it, your newly created ringtone will be exported directly to iTunes where you'll be able to sync it with your iPhone. (If you don't to use iTunes, you can also upload it directly to your iPhone via SCP/SFTP.)

To make it even better... this iRinger is completely free.

Bloom Box - Energy Revolution in the Making?

Will this be it? The next era in energy and power revolution?

I know it sounds too good to be true, but that's exactly what K.R. Sridahr and Bloom Energy say they're about to da as their Bloom Box reaches public announcement (scheduled for tomorrow.)

Can you imagine powering an entire home thanks to just two small cubes (like the ones in the image)?

And forget those noise mechanical generators, this has absolutely no moving parts, and relies on "simple" chemical reactions - a fuel cell - but unlike the other available fuel cells, this one is expected to be much more affordable. At least, once it get to "mass production", in 5 to 10 years.

electrochemical reactions are much more efficient than combustion to shaft to electrical generation techniques

K.R. Sridahr invented one such thing for NASA a while back, for operation on Mars, but his sights are set on a more earthly goal this time: to place a Bloom Box in every home within a decade.


And if you think this is but a mad dream with no real product, let me tell you that Google has been using Bloom Boxes for over a year now, and other big players are using it as well, Ebay, FedEx, etc. have been evaluating Bloom Boxes with seemingly great results and savings.

If all goes well, we might expect to have a small sized noiseless "magic box" that can power up all our electronics, greatly reducing the stress on (or even removing the need for) our costly electric infrastructure.

How Torrents Work

No matter how you look at it, torrents are one of the most effective ways to transfer large (and small) quanitites of data among any number of peers.

Instead of relying on powerful servers with enourmous bandwidth capable of handling thousands of users at the same time, bit torrent relies on each peer to contribute a small part of their own bandwidth to send pieces of data to other peers.

Ok... it might sound simple to some, but to a large number of people it still sounds "mysterious".

So, nothing better than seeing how it actually works in this processing visualization of how BitTorrent works.

[Click on the image to jump to the animation]

In the initial moments, you'll see that only the seeders (the people having the complete files) send data to the peers, but after a while... peers themselves will start sharing data - and that's why the original "servers/seeders" will have a lot less "work" to do.

[via Torrent Freak]

Carl Sagan 'A Glorious Dawn'

Never get tired of hearing Carl Sagan quotes.

Digital Graffiti

Wouldn't it be great if every wall was made of light, and you could simply paint and draw over it with your hands?
Perhaps someday we'll be able to do this in our homes. But for now, although not impossible (as you'll be able to watch in the following video) it still requires a lot of equipment to make it possible.

Google Goggles as OCR Translator

Remeber Google Goggles, the image recognition service provided by Google?

Well, as I suspected, it was only a taste of what you'll soon be able to do with it. How about using it as a text translation tool?

Just snap a picture of a menu or any other text, and have it instantly translated into your own language.

For now, it's only an experimental tool, and only works for german-to-english translations, but it's only a matter of time until we'll all be able to use it with many more languages whenever the need arises.

Photoshop turns 20

Time does fly. The world's best known photo/image editing program Photoshop turns 20 years today!

Though it remains faithful to its origins, every new Photoshop version introduces features that simplify and/or allow the creation of more amazing effects. It would be hard to find an image somewhere that hasn't been retouched in photoshop.

 Photoshop 1.0

Photoshop CS4

Congrats Photoshop. May we all be celebrating your anniversary 20 years from now.

Why people Pirate Movies?

It's completely ridiculous how paying customers are treated these days. Whenever you buy a DVD/Bluray/Video Game/etc. you're treated like you're a criminal - even though you just paid good money for it.

To make it even more absurd, anyone choosing to "pirate" that content gets a much friendlier user experience, being able to just use it without any such concerns.

There will always be pirates; but if companies decided to treat the paying customers better, I'm sure a lot more people would be willing to buy their stuff!

Click on the image below to see it in its full glory:

Nvidia Optimus GPU Dynamic Switching

Nvidia is once again pushing mixed GPU interaction to the limits.

For a long time computer manufacturers have been trying to find the right balance between performance and power efficiency, especially where it matters the most: battery powered laptops.

While stuffing two graphic cards in laptops is nothing new: a power hungry one offering maximum performance, and a less powerful one offering maxium power savings; it was up to the user to select which one to use according to special power schemes or by toggling a button.
Often, this also meant the user had to log off and on again... which wasn't very user friendly.


With this Nvidia Optimus the principle is the same, but the toggling is made based on the current needs, without any user interaction and without even flickering the screen.

Asus is scheduled to have this system in their laptops (UL50Vf, N61Jv, N71Jv, N82Jv, e U30Jc) soon.

Check the following video (the jerkiness of the video is due to the capture software, in real life it looks as smooth as you'd expect it to be.)

NVIDIA Optimus Technology - GPU Switching 2 - PC Perspective from Ryan Shrout on Vimeo.

Crash-Proof Firefox

There's nothing worse than seeing your browser crash and take away all your work and dozens of opent tabs or windows.

To make it even worse, most of the time the problem isn't the browser itself but caused by some problem in some external plugin - like Flash, for example.

Well, soon Firefox will learn some trick from Google's Chrome, running its plugins in a separate process. Meaning: even if the plugin crashes, your Firefox should keep working as usual, like nothing happened - just showing a failed plugin message its web page.

Volvo S60 With Pedestrian Video Detection and Auto-Brake

Volvo has always been one of the companies innovating in car security (first cars with seat belts, for instance)  and it seems it plans to keep that tradition in the middle of a world economic crysis. The new Volvo S60 can now detect pedestrians walking on/by the street, and can even brake the car automatically in case the driver doesn't react to its warnings in time.

Windows Phone 7 Series

Microsoft's latest mobile platform is out: Windows Phone 7 Series.

Forget everything you knew about Windows Phones and Windows Mobile devices: this is the once-called Zune Phone, and it sports an entirely new user interface.

I'm glad to see Microsoft has decided not to copy any of the existing UI styles we can find in the iPhone/Android/etc. and coming up with a unique interface on their own.
This alone is enough to make it a true alternative for everyone not happy with those other choices.

With a clean uncluttered interface that completely does away with icons and animated backgrounds, the Windows Phone 7 Series will be closely followed by Microsoft, that has strict specs every manufacturer should follow to ensure a consistent "user experience" across the board.

Watch the video to see how these new Windows Phone 7 Series actually move:

Google to become 1Gbit ISP?

Looks like Google is looking into bypassing ISPs standing between it and its users, becoming an ISP itself and offering speeds up to 1GBps to its users.

Samsung confirms Transparent OLED screns

First show as a prototype at CES, this transparent OLED screen in a laptop by Samsung was deemed to unrealistic to ever be produced.
Well, Samsung now tell us we'll be able to have such screens within a year.

Well, I'm all for new and exciting technologies - even though I still can't see where you'd want a transparent TV/computer screen (unless we're talking about HUD screens for cars or giant windows that serve as screens) but, I'm sure I won't mind having one of these in the future! :)



The technology behind these screens is simply amazing, we're hoping they become more common and useful in the future.

Vitamin D - Video Motion Detection made Easy

Considering I've recently acquired a IP WiFi camera (review coming soon!) it immediately became obvious that it would be a waste of time watching hours and hours of video hoping to see some "important" event.
Sure, these cameras allows you to do basic motion detection in preselected areas, but what if you need a bit more... intelligent?

Imagine you want to receive a notification when someone goes in, but not when you go out, or any other complex motion detection rule that can't be done in the camera itself. That's where Vitamin D comes to the rescue, allowing you to do some pretty amazing stuff in a simple easy-to-understand way:



There's lots more you can use it for. Definitely a video tool you'll want to keep at hand.

Google Nexus One

Want to learn a bit more about Google's Nexus One and how it was designed and conceived?

Then watch these short clips documenting it's "making-of".

Nexus One: The Story. A series of short films documenting the making of Nexus One. Episode 2: Display and 3D Framework

Guru Plug Server

Tired of leaving a power-hungry computer on 24/7? Check this tiny (but amazing) Guru Plug Server Plus .

Using less that 5W, this little box is powered by a 1.2Ghz Marvell Kirkwood CPU, has 512MB Ram, 512MB Flash, and - besides WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, eSata, Micro SD and several other I/Os - has also, not one, but... 2 Gigabit ethernet ports! Imagine the possibilites. :)

Has they say, you'll be able to use this GuruPlug everywhere, from home automatio to surveilance, industrial automation, gris computing... you name it.

Best of all, it can be yours for less than 89 euros / $130 USD!

ISS gets a Panoramic Space Window

Thanks to ESA (European Space Agency) the crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will have one more reason to make us insanely jealous: a panoramic dome module!

For the first time, astronauts will be able to gaze the wonders of space through seven large windows (including the largest windows ever to be sent to space.)

Each window is composed of multiple panes to ensure its safety even when the outside protection shutters are open.

I'm sure every ISS occupant will never forget Space Shuttle Endeavour mission STS-130 for bringing them this amazing piece of engineering.

Google Buzz

The buzz of the day is... Google Buzz.

It's no secret Google has been trying its luck in the social networking arena. But acquiring sites like Orkut, and doing "experimental" stuff like Google Wave hasn't really convinced nor attracted its worldwide users.

Google Buzz might have a better shot at it though, as it will be available right inside your Gmail, as well as on mobile devices, with geolocation services, etc.

What is this Google Buzz after all?
It's Google's anser to Twitter and Facebook, so it doesn't fall behind in an unrecoverable way.
If you've ever used Google Reader you'll find this new service to be quite familiar - for everyone else, it's an easier way to share stuff with friends, colleagues, family, or the entire world.

Check the following videos to know what this buzz is all about:

KDE 4.4.0 is Out

If you're a KDE user, you'll be pleased to know that the latest KDE 4.4.0 is already out.

Code named "Caikaku", this new KDE offers some new and interesting features, such as social network and online collaboration integration, a netbook oriented interface, as well as some "deeper" modifications such as  KAuth authentication - not to mention the thousands of fixed bugs.

You can read more about this new KDE 4.4.0 here.

Netboot.me - Booting Linux over HTTP

Wouldn't it be nice if your computer showed up a list of operating systems at boot, which you could select and boot over a network connection?


That's exactly what you can do with netboot.me!

Unfortunately, you'll still a bootable CD, USB drive or floppy disk for the first "pre-boot" step, but even so... it's a valuable tool that can prove useful in many situations.

You can find a detailed tutorial on how to boot linux over http using netboot here.

Mozilla Weave 1.0 for Firefox

If you use multiple computers and want to keep your browser sessions in sync, I remind you Mozilla Weave 1.0 for Firefox is already available.

Using this free browser add-on from Mozilla Labs, you can securely access all of your personal data across all of your supported devices, making your Web experience instantly more personal and useful.

Weave Sync synchronizes your bookmarks, saved passwords, browsing history and open browser tabs. And all of your data is encrypted end-to-end to ensure your privacy.

Extended Task Manager

If you want to know what your Windows operatins system is doing behind your back, there are a couple of tools you might want to keep at hand. Process Explorer is one such tool - though it can often cause some weird behavior when playing games (due to the lame DRM in the games, not from the tool itself.)

But if Process Explorer is too complex for you to use, you can use Extended Task Manager.

Don't you just hate when your computer starts accessing your hard drive like crazy and you can't figure out what might be causing it? With this Extended Task Manager you'll be able to immediately find the culprit.

Once you find the offending program or process (using too much CPU, Disk, or Memory) you can pause it (or terminate it) to quickly do some other task before allowing to run as usual.

This process explorer can also show locked files and which processes are locking it -particularly useful whenever you're trying to delete a file and getting the "file in use" warning.

Media Center Software Compared

If you're thinking of using a computer as a media center, you'll need a software up to the task - something like: XBMC, Boxee, or Windows Media Center.

Of course, while using Windows Media Center restricts you to using Windows, XBMC and Boxee can happily run in any other OS you have - you can even run XBMC from a Live CD or a USB stick.

So... go ahead and see its pros and cons in this media center software comparison and find the best one for you. My bets are you'll choose either one of these:

 Boxee

XBMC

You can even use XBMC to play high-definition 720/1080p content in your Apple TV. :)

Free Ovi Maps Racing from Nokia

No secrets here: since Nokia started offering their Ovi GPS Navigation Maps for free one week ago, users have downloaded it over 1.4 million times.

Now, Nokia wants you to take it a step further and actually play around with it with... Ovi Maps Racing!

Don't tell my you've never wished playing a racing game in your neighborhood -  and now, you can. Head to your nearest Ovi Store and download it now, it's free for a limited time.

Check the video:

Edigma Multitouch - Made in Portugal

Looking for a multitouch polymer surface you can apply to any material?

This Displax Multitouch Technology is a creation of Edigma (a portuguese company) and was shown at Integrated Systems Europe in Amsterdam.

This polymer based can be applied to glass, wood, stone or any other material, in flat or curved surfaces, and allow full multitouch interactions.

Updates: Nexus One and iPhone OS

Looks like today is a mobile update day!

Google updates Nexus One

Google is updating its top-of-the-line Nexus One.

Among several other features, the one people will like the most is the multitouch pich-to-zoom in the browser, maps and gallery.

• Google Goggles: Is now available from "All Apps"
• Google Maps: updated to Google Maps 3.4, which will include:
  * Starred items synchronized with maps.google.com
  * Search suggestions from your personal maps.google.com history
  * Night mode in Google Maps Navigation
• Pinch-to-zoom functionality
• 3G connectivity: we will provide a general fix to help improve 3G connectivity

You'll receive a notification on your Nexus to update it in the coming days (or already have one in your screen right now, if you're lucky :)





iPhone OS 3.1.3 Update

While everyone is expecting a major upgrade to the iPhone OS, Apple comes forth and launches just yet another minor update that deals mostly with security fixes (and bugs jailbreak a bit more.)

Besides a more accurate battery level indicator, we can expect some bug fixes that could cause some apps to crash when using Kana japanese keyboard, or simply fail to launch in some instances.

Update already available in your iTunes.

HTC Magic Sense Update

In case you've missed it: HTC Magic's firmware update is already available for all those wanting to try the sexy looking Sense UI.

As you'd expect: backup your stuff before trying it - as the upgrade process will wipe your Magic clean.

iPad supports Apple Wireless Keyboard

So you're itching for an Apple iPad, but that keyboard dock doesn't strike you as usable - and for that matter you already have a couple Apple Wireless keyboards laying around. Wouldn't it be nice if you could use those with your iPad?

Well... you can! 

Check the iPad official site. It states that the iPad can connect via bluetooth to wireless headphones and... Apple's Wireless Keyboard! :)

Internet Trends - Openzoom

An interesting openzoom internet trends visualization:

Simple Guide Tool - Streetview sharing

If you ever thought how cool it would be if you could share an interactive streetview/google maps session with some friends, I present you: Simple Guide Tool.

This site allows you to quickly and easily create a shared map/streetview room, with real time chat, so that you can show your friends exactly how to get there. Really amazing! :)