Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Android for Everyone on the Planet

Google's Schmidt Predicts an Android for Everyone on the Planet - NYTimes.com

""The smartphone revolution will be universal and a mobile experience to be available to almost everyone at a fraction of the price,” he said. “If Google gets it right, there will be an Android in every pocket, and at the current growth rate, it is certainly possible.”

Mr. Schmidt said 850,000 Android phones are activated every day, and 300 million Android devices have been activated.

That figure doubled in the last six months, and “eventually it’ll be a trillion and we’ll run out of people,” he said.

The company’s scale, he said, could be instrumental in changing how the world works and how technological innovation happens.

“A new intelligent infrastructure will emerge, we would argue, powered by Android,” he said. “This is something Google is working on.”"

iPhone 4S Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz Integrates iPhone 4S and Siri into New Models | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

"Mercedes-Benz has announced plans to integrate the iPhone and Siri's voice control functions into its new A-Class vehicle"

41-Megapixel Nokia PureView 808

Hands On With the 41-Megapixel Nokia PureView 808 | News & Opinion | PCMag.com


The default mode records 5-megapixel images by condensing seven pixels into one, but you can turn off that default and get 38-megapixel pictures if you feel you can handle the file size. The 5-megapixel mode offers dramatically reduced noise and improved image quality because it's oversampling, though, and that's the mode Nokia thinks most people will be using most often.

Hacking America’s Future

podcast radio
Hacking America’s Future | On Point with Tom Ashbrook

Chinese hackers and American R&D. Is this country’s future being stolen?
...The theft in particular of American trade secrets – American R&D, the fruits of American ingenuity. We’re told it is happening on a vast scale. A scale so great it could change America’s future. Steal it.


Traveling Light in a Time of Digital Thievery

When Kenneth G. Lieberthal, a China expert at the Brookings Institution, travels to that country, he follows a routine that seems straight from a spy film.

He leaves his cellphone and laptop at home and instead brings “loaner” devices, which he erases before he leaves the United States and wipes clean the minute he returns. In China, he disables Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, never lets his phone out of his sight and, in meetings,not only turns off his phone but also removes the battery, for fear his microphone could be turned on remotely...

JSON Formatter


Since Javascript/ECMAscript is a programming language of the future,
(just ask Google - Chrome Apps and Microsoft - Windows 8 Apps :)
and JSON is a data format for that language,
it is natural that a good JSON viewer is available
as a single-page web javascript app:

Collapsible JSON Formatter - view your json code in colors

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Upside-down text

Transformation of text - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There is a lot of interesting characters in 65000+ Unicode signs,
including upside-down letters...

"z ʎ x ʍ ʌ n ʇ s ɹ b d o u ɯ l ʞ ɾ ı ɥ ɓ ɟ ǝ p ɔ q ɐ"

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Windows on iPad, 1000x faster internet

OnLive Desktop Plus Puts Windows 7 on the iPad in Blazing Speed - State of the Art - NYTimes.com


Remote desktop-like app for iPad, accessing Windows VM with Microsoft Office,
running on data center with 1 gigabit Internet connection...

If ever there were a poster child for the potential of cloud computing, OnLive is it. This is jaw-dropping, extremely polished technology. It opens up a universe of software and horsepower that live far beyond the iPad’s wildest dreams — with no more effort on your part than a few taps on glass.

And it is free, including Office, and 2GB storage.
Fast internet connection and web browser (that supports Flash) on VM, is $5/month.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Udacity - Educating the 21st Century

Udacity - Educating the 21st Century


New udacity classes have started!
And the logo has changed:)

The technology is improved since AI-class,
by using color pens, and interactive python programming inside of web browser!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

ASP.NET MVC 4 Beta

ASP.NET MVC 4 Beta - ScottGu's Blog
  • Bundling and Minification
  • Entity Framework 4.3
  • Web API
  • Mobile Web
  • Razor Enhancements
  • Async Support and WebSockets
  • Sunday, February 19, 2012

    Google Code University

    Programming Languages - Google Code University - Google Code


    C++
    Java
    JavaScript
    Python
    Go

    Internet of Things

    wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_Things

    Podcast: Andy Piper | MQ Telemetry Transport (MQTT) @ ITconversations

    Podcast: How Twine Can Tie The World Together @ ITconversations



    Twine is a wireless module tightly integrated with a cloud-based service. The module has WiFi, on-board temperature and vibration sensors, and an expansion connector for other sensors. Power is supplied by the on-board micro USB or two AAA batteries (and Twine will email you when you need to change the batteries).

    The Spool web app makes it simple to set up and monitor your Twines from a browser anywhere. You set rules to trigger messages — no programming needed. The rules are put together with a palette of available conditions and actions, and read like English: WHEN moisture sensor gets wet THEN tweet "The basement is flooding!" We'll get you started with a bunch of rule sets, and you can share rules you create with other Twine owners.

    Funding by: Kickstarter, the world's largest funding platform for creative projects. Every week, tens of thousands of amazing people pledge millions of dollars to projects from the worlds of music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and other creative fields.

    iPod -> Thermostat

    Nest | The Learning Thermostat | Living With Nest


    Tony Fadell, person who was instrumental in creating iPod and iPhone,
    is now making "smart" devices for saving energy...

    ...Tony led the team (in Apple) that created the first 18 generations of the iPod
    and the first three generations of the iPhone...
    Tony has authored more than 100 patents...

    Saturday, February 18, 2012

    Introduction to Computing - Book Online Free



    Introduction to Computing
    Explorations in Language, Logic, and Machines

    by David Evans

    University of Virginia Course

    The Best Android Phones

    The Best Android Phones - Slideshow from PCMag.com

    Side-by-side

    A Closer Look: Comparing Apple's iPhone 4S and Samsung's Galaxy Nexus
    By Michael J. Miller (PC Mag)


    Galaxy Nexus, with its 4.65-inch display, is a lot larger than the iPhone 4S, which has a 3.5-inch display. The Nexus measures 5.3-by-2.7-by-0.4 inches, while the iPhone measures 4.5-by-2.31-by-.37 inches...
    The Nexus display is not only physically bigger, but it also offers higher 1280-by-720-pixel resolution, compared with the iPhone's 960-by-480...
    Nexus display uses Samsung's "Super AMOLED" organic LED display, but uses Samsung's PenTile technology (which has two subpixels per dot, not three)...
    In practice, though, the iPhone looks quite good and is typically brighter.

    Screen technology is getting complicated... comparing apples and oranges...
    PenTile

    matrix family refers to a family of patented subpixel matrix schemes used in electronic device displays. PenTile is a trademark of Samsung.

    Friday, February 17, 2012

    Windows 8 Logo

    Microsoft Unveils Bland, Blue Windows 8 Logo | News & Opinion | PCMag.com


    Intended to look like a real window...

    Windows 8 Consumer Preview Event Feb. 29

    Apple guide for iOS apps development

    Start Developing iOS Apps Today
    Write Objective-C Code

    Apple posts guide for iOS development newcomers

    Nevada Approves Rules for Self-Driving Cars

    Nevada Approves Rules for Self-Driving Cars | News & Opinion | PCMag.com


    Google ... said that its cars had traveled more than 160,000 miles without incident...
    Sergey Brin, a Google co-founder... wants the self-driving car to drive a million miles without an accident. The company has also patented a "landing strip" for the cars, able to orient it or transfer information to it via short-range wireless technologies.

    Audi and Volkswagen are also developing autonomous cars

    Thursday, February 16, 2012

    Apple iOS in 2011 > Macs in 28 years

    Apple sold more iOS devices in 2011 than it sold Macs in 28 years | ZDNet

    Apple have sold 140 million Macs running some form of OS X to date in the 28 years they have been available on the market. It sold 55 million iPads to date, and sold 22 million iPods in the first five years since the first device were out on the market. The company sold around 175 million iPhones to date, with 37 million of them in the last quarter alone.

    In a nutshell: the iOS device collective reached 316 million cumulative units at the end of last year, while the Mac collective sold only 122 million cumulatively to date.


    Transcript: Apple CEO Tim Cook at Goldman Sachs
  • 55 million iPads sold to date
  • it took about 3 years to sell that many iPhones.
  • It took about 5 years to sell 22 million iPods,
  • it took 22 years to sell 55 million Macs.
  • Wednesday, February 15, 2012

    jqMobi


    jqMobi


    Another JavaScript framework, in this case strictly leveraging HTML5,
    and this makes it possible to optimize more and get better performance,
    claiming 2.5x faster than "classic" jQuery (Mobile)




    And there is more...
    www.appmobi.com

    mobiUs
    the new browser that changes mobile apps forever
    Quite simply, mobiUs lets your smartphone run HTML5-based web apps
    that look and feel exactly the same as "native" apps from the app store.

    directCanvas: 10x faster than HTML5 canvas
    How does directCanvas accelerate game graphics rendering?
    Modern WebKit browsers perform an amazing amount of processing
    in order to convert HTML5 canvas commands into a fully rendered page.
    Reflowing text, mapping hot spots, creating indexes for reference links,
    on and on. A typical game requires none of this functionality,
    but the processing overhead is still there.

    OK, so this is (almost) the same as Windows 8 :)
    Just for Android and iOS...

    Tuesday, February 14, 2012

    Grammy Awards Live, 1988, 2012

    Whitney Houston - One Moment In Time (Grammy Awards Live 1988) - YouTube

    @Wikipedia |
    lyrics

    Adele - Rolling in the deep - Grammy 2012

    lyrics

    Many contrasts:
  • bright vs. dark mood
  • white vs. black dress
  • dark vs. blonde hair
  • big voice vs big mess
  • ... find more...
  • Monday, February 13, 2012

    Stanford Engineering Everywhere

    Stanford School of Engineering - Stanford Engineering Everywhere



    "Stanford Engineering Everywhere is an online portal offering ten courses from Stanford’s School of Engineering— including the three-course introductory sequence in Computer Science— free of charge.

    SEE offers course content available to Stanford students including instructional videos, reading lists and materials and class assignments. And SEE allows you to communicate with fellow SEE students online.

    SEE encourages fellow educators to use Stanford course materials in their own classrooms.

    Note: SEE courses cannot be taken for credit and do not include access to Stanford-restricted computers, libraries, or services. Content may not include all the material used in the campus offering and cannot be used for commercial purposes."

    Example:

    introduction to computer science | programming paradigms

    Instructor: Cain, Jerry
    COURSE CONTENT:
  • Course Home
  • Lectures (Videos with Transcripts)
  • Syllabus
  • Handouts
  • Assignments
  • Exams
  • Resources

    The lectures and materials are very good.
    Compared with recent AI-class, also originated from classic Stanford classes
    but was implemented for online learning, watching long lectures without quizzes,
    is much less inspiring...
  • $Apple = $Microsoft + $Google ++

    Microsoft + Google = Apple - SlashGear

    Microsoft’s market cap was about $256.7 billion.
    Google’s market cap was about $198.9 billion.
    Apple’s market cap, was at $456 billion.

    ...Apple was worth more than Google and Microsoft combined.


    Apple stock passes $500 a share


    APPL @ google.com/finance

    Sunday, February 12, 2012

    Double Speed mp3 playback: iPhone, iPod Touch

    Podcast Speed and Rewind on an iPhone « Palmtopman's Blog


    iPhone and iPod Touch have a useful (some would call it 'insanely great')
    feature to be able to playback audio files on 2x and 1/2 speed,
    with same 'pitch' of the voice, just faster of slower.

    Some other mp3 players can speed up, but sound gets distorted,
    sounds like chipmunk or Donald Duck.

    As usual with Apple products, this feature works as 'auto-magic'
    based on metadata ('info') of the file,
    so mp3 files need to have a flag that is a podcast or audio book.
    This is not always the case for mp3 files, and iTunes can help.

    forum @SuperUser
    ...to get my mp3 lectures to play at double speed on iPhone (and iPod Touch)
    iTunes uses to tell whether the file is a podcast or audiobook is a setting in:
    "File-> Get Info-> Options tab-> Media Kind"
    Set that to podcast or audiobook and voila,
    iPhone will give you the option of 2x speed.
    This is great, because you can select a bunch of tracks
    and change the whole lot with a few clicks.



    Microsoft has also added similar feature to Silverlight 5,
    that is for now only available on 'standard' Windows,
    not not yet on Windows Phone 7.x.
    Too bad that Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 8 'Metro' interface
    will not support plugins, including Silverlight...

    Think different

    Think different, Apple Computers 1997

    The voiceover was by Richard Dreyfuss.

    "Here's to the crazy ones.
    The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers.
    The round pegs in the square holes.
    The ones who see things differently.

    They're not fond of rules,
    and they have no respect for the status quo.
    You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify and vilify them.

    About the only thing you can't do is ignore them
    because they change things.
    They push the human race forward.

    And while some may see them as crazy, we see genius.
    Because the people who are crazy enough
    to think they can change the world,
    are the ones who do
    ."


    @Wikipedia


    Never aired version with Steve Jobs narration.

    Saturday, February 11, 2012

    Technology-Driven Trends for 2012

    Daniel Burrus: Technology-Driven Trends for 2012 - Strategic Insights Blog


    1) Big Data
    2) Cloud Computing
    3) On Demand Services (SW & HW)
    4) Virtualization
    5) Consumerization of IT
    6) Gamification of Training and Education
    7) Social Business
    8) Smart Phones & Tablets as PC
    9) Tablet Computers with Enterprise Level Web Apps
    10) Intelligent Electronic Agents
    11) Digital Identity Management
    12) Visual Communications
    13) Enhanced Location Awareness
    14) Geo-Spatial Visualization
    15) Smart TV Using Apps
    16) Multiple App Stores
    17) 3D Displays for Smart Phones and Tablets
    18) eBooks, eNewspapers, and eMagazines
    19) Interactive Multimedia eTextbooks
    20) Wireless Machine-to-Machine applications

    Version Control by Example

    Free online book Version Control by Example


    by Eric Sink, founder of SourceGear (maker of Vault),
    software craftsman,
    and creator of new version control tool "Veracity".
    He also created first version of Internet Explorer.

    The book describes:
    • Subversion
    • Mercurial
    • Git
    • Veracity
    The book is also available as a free printed book, with free shipping!

    A kind of advertising, apparently printed book could be cheaper than AdWords!

    Podcast interview with Eric Sink @ DotNetRocks

    Wednesday, February 08, 2012

    OLPC XO 3.0: $100 Tablet

    One "Laptop" Per Child (OLPC) is now "Tablet", and price is half or the original.
    OLPC XO 3.0 Hands On: The $100 Wonder Tablet

    (8", Android or SugarOS)

    India's $50 tablet

    The original OLPC preceded "Netbooks", cheap laptops.
    Netbooks are now out of favor, due to even cheaper large laptops,
    and more expensive, but more portable, tablets, $500 iPad in particular.

    Could the new $100 "OTPC" achieve the original goal to be in hands of every child?


    The scale of US budget deficit is about $ 200 billion / month

    The estimate of number of children in US: by wolframalpha.com: 62 million (0-15 years), 20% of US population in 2010.

    So, the increase of US deficit PER CHILD is more than $100 every DAY.
    That is one OTPC for every child in the US every DAY!

    Monday, February 06, 2012

    How Apple cuts costs?

    How Apple cuts costs in building its gadgets - CNN.com

    "The costs of parts and manufacturing for Apple's iPhone 4S is estimated to be $196, according to industry research firm IHS iSuppli. That's $453 less than Apple charges for a contract-free phone.
    ...
    Apple has more than 60,000 employees, most of whom work in its retail stores.
    ...
    During the last three months of 2011, Apple sold
    * 37 million iPhones,
    * 15.4 million iPads,
    * 15.4 million iPods and
    * 5.2 million Mac computers, according to the company's financial report.

    That netted Apple $46.3 billion in revenue and $13.1 billion in profit,
    which is double what Apple made during the same period a year before.

    "

    Google's "Solve for X" moonshot thinking

    www.wesolveforx.com

    a conference for big thinkers to discuss “radical technology ideas for solving global problems."

    February 1-3, 2012 in CordeValle Resort in San Martin, CA.
    For three days, fifty scientists, entrepreneurs and innovators from around the world came together to discuss and debate radical solutions to some really big problems.
    ...
    Solve for X is a forum to encourage and amplify technology-based moonshot thinking and teamwork.
    ...
    If you have seen (or given) a talk that you think meets the Solve for X criteria, please enter the following, formatted this way, in your Google+ post: Huge Problem, Radical Solution, Breakthrough technology, Video (link to a YouTube video).

    Google's Solve for X Website Goes Online

    ...visions will have to presented in a laser-focused 12-minute monologue to a "highly accomplished group of people" in a conference environment. Google lifted the importance of the presentations to the likes of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy. It is inspiration, passion and intelligence the company is looking for...



    @ google+

    Bottom line: a TED-like event, organized by Google.

    Sunday, February 05, 2012

    Microsoft Photosynth 3D panoramas

    Photosynth - Capture your world in 3D.


    Panoramic photos, composed of thousands of individual photos, with a nice move/zoom viewer.
    More details @Wikipedia

    A "photo" size: 30+ GigaPixels :)

    Photosynth allows you to take a bunch of photos of the same scene or object and automagically stitch them all together into one big interactive 3D viewing experience that you can share with anyone on the web.





    Apple Siri + earSmart noise reduction chip

    Why Apple's A5 is so big--and iPhone 4 won't get Siri | Deep Tech - CNET News

    Besides Artificial Intelligence,
    there is even more magic to make iPhone 4S Siri
    work as it is (and sell as it does :)

    Thanks to IPO filing of a company that makes specialized chips for noise reduction,
    now we know that Apple has embedded some of that advanced technology
    directly to A5 CPU that powers iPhone 4S...

    Audience: Products Featuring earSmart™

    Saturday, February 04, 2012

    Smartphone vs PC sales; Smartphone wins

    Smartphone Sales Boom -- Who Needs A Laptop? | PCWorld


    Microsoft's smart solution: use same core OS in phone and PC (Windows 8)

    Apple is in fact doing the same with iPhone from 2007, since iOS is based on MacOS..

    Mozilla's 'Seabird' Concept Phone

    Mozilla's 'Seabird' Concept Phone Could Be a Boon for Business | PCWorld Business Center

    A VERY interesting concept design
    with 2 projectors, remote control, virtual keyboard,
    from open source maker of Firefox web browser...

    2D Video @ YouTube


    3D Video @ YouTube


    Want to buy a phone with projector NOW?
    Here it is, for $800

    Samsung i8520 Beam Android Unlocked QuadBand GPS WiFi HSDPA SmartPhone built in pico projector

    Facebook IPO: "The Hacker Way"

    Mark Zuckerberg's Letter to Investors: 'The Hacker Way' | Epicenter | Wired.com


    Mark Zuckerberg, the Hacker Way and the Art of the Founder’s Letter

    “Hackers believe that something can always be better, and that nothing is ever complete. They just have to go fix it — often in the face of people who say it’s impossible or are content with the status quo.”

    Friday, February 03, 2012

    TED: Danny Hillis: Back to the future (of 1994)

    Danny Hillis: Back to the future (of 1994) | Video on TED.com

    Patent "frand": Apple vs Android

    Explained: Apple's not-so-secret favorite patent argument | Mobile - CNET News


    Frand--also known as "rand" in the U.S.--is an obscure legal acronym that stands for "fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory," and is based on the principle that fair licensing of intellectual property is often needed because sometimes certain ideas and patents just need to be shared for everything to work together properly...

    frand relates to the agreed-on technology used to form the 3G cellular standard called UMTS. Several companies hold what are known as essential patents, and are obligated to license them to all the other participants in a fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory manner...

    One issue with the principle is determining what exactly is reasonable...

    Thursday, February 02, 2012

    Windows Phone 8: Huge changes ahead

    Windows Phone 8 details leak: Huge changes ahead (Updated)


    Windows Phone 8 Preview
    Windows Phone 8, codenamed Apollo, will be based on the Windows 8 kernel and not on Windows CE as are current versions. This will not impact app compatibility: Microsoft expects to have over 100,000 Windows Phone 7.5-compatible apps available by the time WP8 launches, and they will all work fine on this new OS.

    Wednesday, February 01, 2012

    jCanvas = jQuery + HTML5 canvas

    jCanvas | jQuery meets the HTML5 canvas

    Canvas's simple syntax makes drawing shapes as easy as it should be.

    $("canvas").drawArc({
      fillStyle: "#333",
      x: 50, y: 50,
      radius: 25
    });
    

    Free and open-source

    Gallery | jCanvas