2024-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Surfertoday with the eminent question in wave surfing: Given a break spot near shore and a swell-generated breaking wave with a shoulder, which position and surf direction is optimal on the wave slope (face)? Depends on what you want: High on the face and smaller vertical variations for speed-up, big vertical variations for maneuvers, and straight on for relaxing.
2024-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Hackaday reports on the Svalboard, a keyboard with minimal finger travel by having switches all around each finger, instead of key surfaces only pointing upwards. Similar to the datahand (1990) [archive] [hackaday] and the Azeron (2021) speedpad. Comes with a pointing stick as mouse replacement, popularized by the ThinkPad laptop line. Costs 800€. See also my input devices list.
2024-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Pascal Getreuer writes on building custom keyboards ("hand-wired") with QMK as firmware: You can have mouse control, more Shift keys ("layers"), built-in unicode characters, and 50 words of auto correction for your favorite mistakes.
2023-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Surfer Today and Dose report on inflatable skate ramps by Evolution Ramps that are portable and flex on impact. A velcro-attached top layer provides a rollable surface e.g. from HDPE. The high air pressure needed presumes some drop stitch variant, as used in SUP, wingfoil and bodyboards. Loosely related, S-wing fins seem a fun surfing variant.
2023-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Hackaday reports on the Ploopy Adept Trackball, which runs QMK so you can modify the behaviour on the firmware level; and all specs for 3d printing the parts are GPL on github. Costs 80€. See also my input devices.
2023-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Surfer today reports on wave surf games and in particular the beta stage Barton Lynch Pro Surfing (2022) [steam] by Bungarra, unfortunately Windows only. Previously, the best wave surf game was Kelly Slater Pro Surfer (2003) [review] [abandon], again Windows only.
2023-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Daniel de Kok reviews the Glove80 keyboard from MoErgo having a "key well" or bowl similar to the Kinesis keyboards, while being lower and more adapted to each finger. Costs about 500€. Similar keyboards without key wells are SplitKB Kyria and Keyboardio Model 100. Hackaday also has coverage. See also my input devices list.
2023-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Dax Montilla on the motors that can go onto skateboard trucks: Integrated hub motors with reduced wheel thickness are silent and can be pushed; belt-drive motors with good torque have moving parts near the ground; enclosed direct drive motors with good torque have fixed parts near the ground; sealed gear drive motors with good torque are loud and expensive. Also use dual motors (per truck) whenever possible. See also my skate part shortlist.
2023-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Having an Android phone without Google is challenging when many banking apps rely on GMS. The Pixel-only GrapheneOS has better banking support than LineageOS, and comes with a banking apps compatibility list. See also my Pocket PC and Android details.
2023-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Ycombinator points to a list of JavaScript libraries that allow gradual enhancement of websites, instead of the all-in approach that classical frameworks require. Among them: alpine.js (12KB), htmx (10KB), mithril (10KB) for single-page apps, and the slightly bigger unpoly (50KB).
2023-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Ycombinator links to the Klor ergonomic keyboard, which includes a track ball under each thumb. The chassis is 3d printable, and all plans are open source (GPLv3). See also my input devices article.
2023-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Flowing data and notebookcheck [de] report on the space elevator mini game by Neal Agarwal, where you can scroll up from the ground to the Karman line at 100km to see who is there, passing the troposphere, the stratosphere at 10km, the mesosphere (aka ignorosphere) at 50km, and the thermosphere at 80km. See also my space weather article.
2023-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Machine learning (ML) has become quite good at style transfer, so when there is an abundance of stylistically similar anime frames to learn from, inpainting green-screen background with appropriate visual effects (VFX) becomes feasible, as a Corridor Digital before/after video demonstrates.
2023-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Stephen Wolfram outlines the basics of ChatGPT, a machine learning algorithm that creates text from a writing prompt: Word by word, with learned probabilities and a perturbation factor to avoid repetition, it always generates the next word from the previous. Related: GPT with numpy (Python), llama.cpp via ycombi.
2023-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Ycombinator reports on Shapecatcher, where you can draw a unicode character and have candidates identified by optical character recognition (OCR), one of the earliest examples of machine learning (ML) used by post offices world wide. Somewhat font-sensitive though, and only a subset of characters is included, e.g. Kanji are missing.
2022-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Hackaday and All about Circuits report on the capabilities [pdf] of id-chipped USB-C cables and their 24 pins: 4 ground (GND) and 4 power (Vbus) pins for power delivery (PD) with minimum 3A*20V=60W, 4 USB2 data (D) and 8 USB3 data (SS), 2 configuration channels (CC) of which CC2 may be replaced by Vconn to power the id chip, and 2 side-band use (SBU) for video or ethernet in alternate mode.
2022-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Hackaday, kbd.news and Reddit report on a custom keyboard with built-in trackball, the Batreeq by AlSaMoMo. The trackball and scroll ring are probably connected to the PCB (keyboard controller) via USB hub. Would be nice if Contour design built something similar with their Roller Mouse, a cylindrical trackball alternative. See also my input devices list.
2022-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Ycombinator points to a Wooting article on keyboard latency aka reaction time: Key press time (10ms according to Dan Luu), micro controller unit (MCU) scan rate (1-8ms) and debounce time (1-5ms), USB poll time (1-8ms), and OS keyboard event time (highly variable). See also my input devices list.
2022-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Stable diffusion [workings] [rombach2022cvpr] is a machine learning algorithm that takes text as input, and creates an image as output: First a 64x64 image from words and a pure noise background, then an upsampled 512x512 image. The Keras (Python on top of TensorFlow) library provides an open-source implementation. GPU with 10GB VRAM required.
2022-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Climbing magazine describes common knots for rock climbing: Figure eight or Bowline (aka Palstek or Bulin [de]) for harness, Prusik for controlled rappelling, and Clove hitch for anchoring. Animated knots is an alternative source. See also my climbing checklist [de]. And Deuter on how to pack your backpack.
2022-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Ycombinator reports on Ian Henry illustrating how to get a nice triangle mesh from a point cloud using Delaunay triangulation, the dual of Voronoi cells. Alternatives include the voxel-based marching cubes, dual contouring [visuals], and variants on distance fields such as SSSR (simple and scalable surface reconstruction).
2022-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Ycombinator discusses flashing firmware on Android devices to extend lifetime: PostmarketOS [devices] [the register] is a pure Linux, while LineageOS [devices] and GrapheneOS [devices] have an AOSP base. Neither provide the unfree Google Mobile Services (GMS) so many banking apps will not work. See also my PocketPC details.
2022-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
YCombinator links to the web-based BassoonTracker [git] used for composing Amiga-style chiptunes. A desktop variant would be e.g. MilkyTracker, see also my tutorial. And related: Movie sampling music videos like Skynet symphonic (2010), Murmurs of middle earth (2011) or Dragon's daughter (2014).
2022-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
My A5 Pro CC phone has a color e-ink screen, but like TFT pixels, the color comes from a filter (CFA) which absorbs light not of that color, in essence losing 66% of white light. Now Businesswire and Good EReader report on an updated "ACeP" panel where each pixel has a cyan, magenta, yellow and white particle, the lack of CFA resulting in full reflectance.
2022-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Hackaday reports on mechanics animations by Nguyen Duc Thang (videos), while various Imgurians link to animations of gas turbines, blade manufacturing and landing gear airflows as well as ball bearings. And wodden gears. And Bart Ciechanowski's mechanical watch.
2022-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Oaseforum [de] asks about longboarding with a surf feeling: With a fast-turning Curfboard (350€), a fast-rolling Onda Longa (250€), or the decidedly do-it-yourself electric longboard by Hunter Casillas (50 pics). Longboards can also be used with a hand-held wing, but not like this.
2022-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Notebookcheck and Golem [de] report on the Framework notebook which is optimized for repair and open source compatibility. After removing the keyboard, all components are accessible, and 2 ports on each side can be swapped from USB-C to monitor or network ports. No touch screen yet, but this is only a question of time; easily pluggable.
2021-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
In 3d coordinate systems, turning a point around some axis is usually done with a rotation matrix which can be combined from rotations around the x, y, and z axis. However smoothly interpolating to that rotation requires quaternions, a sort of complex number but with 4 instead of 2 entries, and like them well suited for describing rotations. 3blue1brown has an intuition video (32min), and AnyLeaf a second guide.
2021-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Golem [de] and hacker news report on Triangula [webapp], a desktop app that takes an image as input and reduces it to colored triangles, a case of non-photo realistic rendering.
2021-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Fanless Tech, Liliputing and Notebookcheck [de] report on the fitlet3 mini PC by Compulab, a 6W fanless closed-housing 14x11x4cm barebone with 32GB RAM and 2280 SSD. I use the pre-pre-pre-decessor Fit-PC as Linux router at home, for 13 years now. See also my MiniPC guide.
2021-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Walter Murch tells the story of bird lungs: Unlike mammalian bellow-type lungs, birds have air sacs that are "loaded" when breathing in, and then continously feed oxygen extraction. Inherited from dinosaurs, air sacs evolved when global oxygen levels dropped after lignin-eating fungi appeared, ending the trapping of CO2 in dead wood. And so, birds can fly over the Himalayas today.
2021-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
James O'Donoghue (NASA, JAXA) visualizes gravity effects (spacetime GIF): Fall speeds on different planets (GIF) in our solar system, and escape velocities from the same planets (GIF).
2021-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Science Advances has a paper on habitable temperatures: At wet-bulb temperature (equivalent to 100% humidity) of above 35° Celsius (308K) a region becomes inhabitable to humans because sweating does not work anymore; higher temperatures are only tolerable with lower humidity. Becomes more relevant with climate change (xkcd).
2021-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An Imgurian shares a drawing of the ethanol (an alcohol variant) molecule looking like a dog: Running, sniffing, eating and sleeping in its cartoon life. Should probably add it to my chemistry intro.
2021-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Like the Azeron speedpad, the Squeezebox keyboard prototype has only one row at the bottom, and expands with forward and backward finger clicks; cannot be bought though. The Breeze is a more conventional staggered column keyboard. Both ignore mousing completely. Slightly related: Why keyup on Linux is not easy to program for.
2021-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Alexander Soto describes the EI2030 project on how to build an e-ink notebook: From the display and drivers, the operating system, to the hardware chassis (e.g. based on OpenBook). Would go nicely with e-ink phones.
2021-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Geekhack and PC gamer report on the Azeron Gaming Keypad, a speedpad with only one row but additional forward, backward and occasional side or up clicks. Seems fast, and no chance to misjudge a key anymore. Costs 150 EUR. See also my input device guide.
2021-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An Imgurian links to the Radio Garden, a globe sprinkled with radio stations, all of whom you can listen to. Fascinating to see the sometimes gradual, sometimes abrupt changes in musical taste.
2021-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An Imgurian shares an animation of orbital mechanics, showing the projected orbit for any amount of acceleration or deceleration: Speeding up to escape earth orbit, then slowing down to get into lunar orbit, instead of just swinging by.
2020-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Liliputing reports on AMD's V2000 "grey hawk" chipset and first fanless mini computers like the iBox V2000: V2516 (6 cores) or V2718 (8 cores) processors around 2GHz, 64GB RAM, unspecified Radeon graphics, in the 25W range. See also my MiniPC guide.
2020-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Adam Williams explains booting with UEFI firmware: While BIOS firmware looks at the MBR of attached drives, UEFI looks at the GPT tables of attached drives to find a vfat partition with type identifier EFI, where one or more boot managers reside. Can be configured from within an OS; try e.g. efibootmgr -v for info.
2020-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An Imgurian shares a GIF illustrating the speed of light (c=300 Mm/s): 8 times around earth per second, or 1.2 seconds to the moon, or 3 minutes to Mars. Made by James O'Donoghue (NASA, JAXA).
2020-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An Imgurian reports on Wlonk Elems, a periodic table where the purpose of each chemical element is briefly explained, by Keith Enevoldsen. Discover magazine also has coverage. See also my chemistry intro.
2020-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Bartosz Ciechanowski explains light rays and sources with a number of sliders and associated animations, yielding a good visual illustration of what happens during physically based rendering.
2020-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Python has matplotlib as a start to graphs and other number visualization. For statistics Altair may be a good addition. And for meshes PyVista based on VTK.
2020-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
AMD collects a list of passively cooled mini PCs based on Ryzen processors with integrated VEGA graphics, including BoxPC and iBox. Other models are Maxtang VHFP-30 [de] (V1605B board, 2500U processor, 8G RAM), Zotac ZBox CA622 pro nano [de] (R1505G, proc unknown, 16GB), Lenovo Thinkcentre M75n IoT [de] (board unknown, Silver 3050e, 4GB). See also my MiniPC guide.
2020-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Parimal Satyal writes on the "Small Web": Personal websites in the 1990 style neocities, web rings, the personal-only Wiby search, all built by non-commercial enthusiasts with basic HTML. See also my web programming guide.
2020-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An Imgurian shares a drawn animation of soap -- Corona virus (2019) interaction: The soap denaturates the fat (lipid bilayer) binding the proteins on the hull, and the virus is dissolved.
2020-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An Imgurian shares a look at the Menzi Muck, a so-called walking excavator with extensible legs, made to work in mountain terrain and apparently widely used in Switzerland.
2020-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
PetaPixel reports on the Ricoh WG-70, a rugged camera capable of 14m underwater and 100kg crush proofness. Similar to the Pentax Optio line of rugged cameras. Still more robust than rugged camera phones like the Caterpillar (CAT) line.
2020-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An Imgurian points to an Expedia article where This is Render restores ancient ruins to models of how they might have looked like; a modern take on archeological illustration.
2019-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An Imgurian shares his list of unusual keyboards, including ergonomic finger travel minimizers, spheres and cubes, split keyboards and wooden keys. Absent: KeyMouse or any incorporation of the RollerMouse. Another Imgurian 3d-prints a keyboard. See also my input device guide.
2019-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An Imgurian shares a GIF with simple drawings of evolution from microbial cell to human. Along the way to humanity, lots of possible changes are discarded: Polyps, fish, and monkeys.
2019-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An Imgurian provides a GIF on planet spin and tilt within our solar system, taken from a NASA video. Jupiter is fastest with a 10 hour cycle, and Venus the slowest with 240 days per cycle. Uranus is the most tilted with 98°. Also nice: Planet rotations in split view, Jupiter collecting debris, and Earth from geostationary orbit.
2019-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
PC games proposes an AMD based Mini-PC: Ryzen 3400G with built-in VEGA 11, an A300 Deskmini barebone (16x16x8 cm), up to 2x 16GB DDR4 SO-DIMM SDRAM at 2933 MHz, and an M2 2280 disk. Notebookcheck indicates that graphics performance is around 60% of an entry-level Nvidia GTX 1050. See also my MiniPC guide.
2019-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Kerbal space program player Keptin draws and summarizes the basics of aircraft design: You want the center of mass slightly in front of the center of lift to stabilize maneuverability to gently falling forward, and canards for steering so stall reaches them before the main wings.
2019-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Imgur reports on a robotic third thumb prototype attached to a human hand, controlled by buttons in shoe heels, made by one Dani Clode. Unintuitive gripping actions on a guitar or holding more stuff than previously possible are now within reach. Dezeen and Digital Trends also have coverage.
2019-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Imgur links to a WDW news article on Disney's stunt robots that can perform high-risk aerial maneuvers without rope. No Anime landing though, instead caught by a net.
2019-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Imgur shows a Dorsa Amir list of human vestigial leftovers, body parts that were once useful in our evolution but are not currently active. Includes the pink nibble in the eye corner, a curious tip in the tube around our ear lobes, and body hair raising in the cold.
2019-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a BBC article on a 15m "variable buoyancy" airship [video], which uses solar panel wings to power a compressor, which in turn makes the airship heavier by filling an internal bag with outside air. The same system is also used for forward propulsion.
2019-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
PetaPixel points to Chris Niccolls of DP Review who proposes preferring waveforms to histograms for exposure setting in photography. A wave represents the brightness distribution in an image from left to right, and the integral (area below the curve) is the intuition for an unsorted histogram. RGB gets one wave per color.
2019-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
After OpenStax the textbooks comes LightStax, Lego compatible bricks with LEDs inside them. A 4x4 thick block contains a button cell battery, and each of the 16 top and 16 bottom nubs has two electric lines. A Brick Set article also mentions micro USB loaded battery bricks.
2019-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The OpenStax [wiki] initiative provides free, peer-reviewed text books on e.g. atoms first chemistry, vector calculus or thermodynamics [de]. No epub though. Semi-related: O'Reilly fake book covers.
2018-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Blender Nation reports on a Blender plugin [intro] that can create spaceships by script. A WebGL demo by ShipWright shows ships created by any random string you enter. In semi-related news, there is also a universe creator.
2018-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Kowoma [de] describes the components of satellite navigation (GPS, Glonass, Galileo, Beidou) signals, here GPS: The coarse acquisition (C/A) code with 1023 bit, unique per satellite and starting anew each millisecond, going 300m at light speed; and the precise (P) military code which is 750MB encrypted, taking a week to transmit. Both are XORed with the navigation data, including telemetry, clock, and orbit. Modern GPS variants add L2C (successor to C/A); L5 for increased robustness; and L1C for redundancy and Galileo interoperability. The Interface Control Document is public.
2018-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An Imgurian shares an animation of summer and winter on Earth's surface. You can also watch the current wind on Earth or the satellite and space debris in Earth's orbit, or a bit below, aeroplane flights on Earth.
2018-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An Imgurian, The Gear Caster and Hot New Tech report on the Hover Glide floating backpack: The bag is mounted onto a rail, and the up-and-down movements while walking are stabilized, reducing effective load on the wearer.
2018-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Heise reports on the Processing programming language [wiki], a strongly simplified Java variant plus environment, suited for beginners in order to build computer graphics with slight interaction, up to small games.
2018-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An Imgurian posts some animations on how wisdom teeth (M3) are removed by dental extraction: Depending on orientation, separation into multiple parts and piece-wise removal. And lots of effort to stop the blood flow.
2018-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
In 2018, the term "small phone" has come to mean 5" where in the 2000s a big phone was 3". Currently, one of the few 2.5" phones is the Jelly by Unihertz, which will get a ruggedized version named Atom presumably end of of 2018.
2018-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The Librem (11, 13, 15) notebook line by Purism is expanded by a PureOS (Debian base) phone, the Librem 5, presumably in early 2019, currently starting devkit production. After OpenMoko (2007) and BQ Aquaris (2014, with Ubuntu Touch), it will be interesting to see how the Librem 5 fares.
2018-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An Imgurian provides some section photos of submarine communication aka undersea cables, at least half a meter in diameter. Protected by stranded steel and an outer and inner layer of water-resistant polyethylene (plastic).
2018-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashgear and The Verge report on the Tap Keyboard, five cable-connected rings that allow one-handed text input and mousing by analysing your hand movements via accelerometer. Connects by bluetooth, no Linux though. Costs 200 EUR. See also my input device guide.
2018-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Peta Pixel, DP review and Image Sensors World report on the cutting edge in high-speed cameras: The Phantom V2640 can do 2000x2000 px at 6000 fps and HD at 11000 fps, in color. Excessive lighting is a prerequisite.
2018-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashgear reports on a Google Doodle reminiscent of Logo (1967) [wiki] and Scratch (2002) [wiki], visual programming languages designed for kids prior to achieving reading comprehension. Another visual variant is Alice (1994) [wiki] which focuses on 3d animation.
2017-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An Imgurian built his own split keyboard. Cherry keycaps and an USB controller like the Teensy can be bought, and you need to do the wiring yourself. Commercial variants include the KeyMouse where both sides are also a mouse (500 EUR) and the ErgoDox which gives your thumb more to do [review] (300 EUR). Would be nice to add a RollerBar replacement, as built by Judy of the Woods. See also my input device guide.
2017-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Imgur showcases the BFS-Auto book scanner by Uni Tokyo, Japan, a research prototype capable of 4 pages/second (video). Uses a slow-moving cylinder to release pages quickly, laser scanner+stereo cameras for realtime page form recognition (and undeforming), and finally optical character recognition (OCR).
2017-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Holding a laser pointer to the end of a fiber optic cable nicely shows the total internal reflection producing a sine wave, which can travel around curves in the cable, illustrated by Imgur. Howstuffworks and Explainthatstuff have more details.
2017-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
PetaPixel reports on the bridge (i.e. non-changeable lens) camera RX10 by Sony, with the lens being a wide 24mm at minimum and a pretty zoomy 600mm at maximum. Comes with up to 960 fps video and a tracking auto-focus that is targetted at sport events. However, its 13mm width image sensor does not capture as much light as APS-C with 23mm or full frame with 35mm.
2017-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
PetaPixel and TheVerge report on the state of Project Tango, an active light depth sensor (infrared structured light) for phones. Apparently, Qualcomm produces new off-the-shelf components. Previous phones with Tango were the Lenovo Phab2 Pro (2016) and the Asus Zenfone AR (2017).
2017-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Hackaday and Heise [de] report on the DuoCopter, a drone with one-blade rotors that control the speed per revolution, allowing e.g. a left strafe by accelerating the rotor while on the left side and deccelerating on the right side. As a consequence, only two rotors are needed for navigation.
2017-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
When on Windows, network analysis tools do not come with the system, but SysInternals and Nirsoft have handy little executables, including TcpView (like tcptrack), BluetoothView, CurrPorts and SmartSniff (like WireShark).
2017-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The godbolt Compiler Explorer is a web form to write C++ (and other, rarer languages) source in, to see how the compiled result looks like in assembler. Useful in discussions about the efficiency of language features.
2017-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
My computer circus now includes a 13" Yoga 900 ISK (not ISK2, those have RAID mode only, which requires a BIOS update before installing Linux). Keyboard includes programmer-friendly Pos1/End/PgUpDown keys, 3200x1800 touch screen requires 150% scaling and runs on Intel HD 520 GPU, USB Type C port (which includes DisplayPort) is 3.0 only, which means 5/10Gps and 10/100W power. The hinge is nice, and Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial runs well enough.
2017-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Road to VR points to a Oliver Kreylos analysis of the HTC Vive (VR headset), in particular its tracking: Two lasers at diagonal ends of the room emit vertical and horizontal laser lines at 60Hz, and photodiodes all around the VR headset use the known timing to calculate the head position and orientation at 120Hz. GizModo has an intro. Compared to Oculus Rift and Playstation VR which have light emitters on the headset and an optical tracker in front of the user, this system can "look" in all directions at once, improving accuracy.
2017-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Petapixel reports on the Xperia XZ phone whose camera shoots 720p@960fps, using an about 6mm Sony Exmor RS sensor (a new variant of the IMX300) with stacked RAM. Includes phase auto focus and an f/2.0 aperture, as well as a 2x optical zoom (only the perpendicular 5x zoom by Oppo is better). See also: DSLR basics.
2017-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The RED Helium sensor inside the Epic S35 films 16-bit RAW with 8K at 30fps, which amounts to up to 275MB per second; so bring a big SSD. PetaPixel reports that the low-light sensitivity is as good as the Sony A7r II. Costs 30K as Epic, and 50K as the 75fps RED Weapon S35.
2016-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
PetaPixel reports on a Some Stuff Explained video tutorial about camera basics using nice particle animations: Increasing the amount of photons perceived by the camera either by opening the aperture, increasing the shutter time or increasing sensor sensitivity.
2016-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Music theory is usually not physics-based, for historic reasons. In contrast, the light note project shows how sound waves translate into harmonies and musical scales, yielding a beginner's scientific approach to making music.
2016-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
PetaPixel and Sploid report on slow-motion underwater explosions (video) recorded by the Slow-mo guys, using a Phantom V2511 (costs 150K EUR) at 28Kfps and at 120Kfps, respectively. The initial photon blast is followed by a gas bubble, which eventually collapses again, yielding a second photon blast.
2016-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Every few years, it has to be done: Upgrade your SSH keys, this time to elliptic curve 25519 by DJB. Fortunately, you can add the new keys to .ssh and then successively reconfigure all servers while keeping the old keys in the meantime. Or, in short: ssh-keygen -o -a 100 -t ed25519.
2016-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Karl Taylor scribbles on a professional foto (video) to break down how he designed the lighting of the shot, featuring a person and a sofa, and more importantly all the right shadows and soft/hard lighting at the right spots.
2016-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Nerdcore and Discover report on semi-automated text analysis of western literature by Uni Vermont [USA], which reveals 6 basic story shapes: Linear (rags to riches and vice versa), one hump (man in a hole vs. Oedipus) and two humps (Cinderella vs. Icarus). They used mechanical turk on text snippets to rate emotional scores.
2016-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Nerdcore and Core 77 report on the Blackbird electric car by the mill: Just a black body with markers and sensors, its form can be adjusted to resemble the target car, and traction, speed and other properties can be programmed. After filming, a digital chassis is then inserted in post-production.
2016-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Hackaday writes about strategies to counter-act the effects of to getting old: Using a light with magnifier or a similar head band to see more clearly, a fume extractor and mobile arm rests to minimize hand tremors, writing down ever more stuff, and even eye surgery and meds where necessary.
2016-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Photonics and Heise [de] link to a Fraunhofer IPMS (Institute for Photonic Microsystems) press release on a camera prototype with two image sensors on different spectral bands behind a single lens. While details are scarce, apparently a specialized mirror steers light rays from different bands towards either sensor.
2016-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
After the lightfield photo camera Lytro Illum (80 Mrays) comes the Lytro Cinema video camera (755 Mrays at 300fps), as Engadget reports. This means refocusing and, more importantly, better depth information for 4K (~8 MP) over ~90 micro lenses. The effect: Refocus effects that are not possible in actual lens hardware, and better 3d data for visual artists to work CG with. Unlike the 1K EUR Illum, the Cinema will be in the 100K EUR price range.
2016-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Peta Pixel reports on the blackest black: Surrey Nanosystems have invented a material named VantaBlack consisting of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes that bounce photons inside them until they turn into thermal energy. At 0.035% reflectance, e.g. the dot of a standard red laser pointer just vanishes. For comparison, very dark black coating arrives at around 1% reflectance.
2016-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
On Peta Pixel, Doug Jackson recounts examples of him getting still frames from cinematic movies, and analyzing them in terms of how the lighting was produced and which effect was intended. The primary tools are stage lighting equipment and various types of reflectors. Portrait lighting is covered by Felix Barjou.
2016-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
In case a YotaPhone 2 with E-ink back side is not novel enough: Peta Pixel reports on the Cat S60 phone with a built-in FLIR thermal imaging camera, to see heat losses or people/animals in full darkness.
2016-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Anton Orlov explains why a lens with long focal length is better for portrait photography: If the camera is far from the subject, all facial features have nearly the same distance to the sensor. If the camera is very close, e.g. the nose is a lot nearer to the sensor than the rest of the face, taking proportionally more pixels and enlarging the nose artifically.
2015-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Researchers from USA/Germany have combined Time-of-Flight cameras and the Doppler effect (video). In ToF, photons with a specific wave length (phase) are emitted and the phase shift is measured. When an object is moving towards or away from the camera, the Doppler effect changes the wave length itself (not just shifting it). The prototype separates the two effects, and provides depth and z-motion as output.
2015-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
For one or multiple (possibly moving) cameras, structure from motion (SfM) estimates the camera position and direction. Alongside VisualSFM and Bundler (two applications), Theia is an open-source C++ library devoted to the same goal.
2015-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Nerdcore points to a Timothy McSweeney article on language engineering to create ambiguity in sentences, moving from the classic "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" to the final result "Speed was involved in a jumping-related incident while a fox was brown" in 10 or so easy steps.
2015-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Color photography captures light wave lengths in the red, green and blue bands. But what happens when you choose ultra-violet or infrared as filter in front of your camera sensor? As Tom Leveritt and Peta Pixel report, the shorter-wave UV recording shows freckles and sunburn much earlier than RGB photography, while the longer-wave infrared recordings (Peta Pixel) smoothe the skin.
2015-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Petapixel links to a RocketJump video on how to use the Sun for photography lighting: Backlighting on sunrise/sunset, using a bounce ("reflector") to accentuate, and using a bedsheet ("softbox") to remove harsh shadows particularly for the Sun at noon. Also usable: Ikea articles, and posing tips by Lexia Frank.
2015-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Petapixel reports on the MIT Modulo Camera concept: Each pixel records photons as usual, but when saturation is reached, the pixel is reset to zero. The number of overruns is stored per pixel. In the end, an HDR image can be built, and tone mapping can be applied.
2015-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Normal cameras shoot well around ISO 10.000. Peta Pixel reports on the Sony a7S working well around 400.000 ISO and on the experimental Canon ME20F reaching 4.000.000 ISO, beating even EM CCDs (EM = electron multiplier). This means practically shooting in moonlight or less is possible.
2015-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A Iaido (japanese sword) master competes in a 1000 cuts (of inanimate objects) challenge against a computer-controlled industrial robotic arm. Nicely made video with a lot of slow-mo. Related: Making a Katana, the old-fashioned way.
2015-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Mad Max - Fury Road has the minimal VFX needed, as evidenced by a VFX/noVFX and before/after comparisons. It is center-framed, has awesome cars, hired Iloura as one of the VFX studios, and has a nice B-roll in lieu of a making-of.
2015-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Petapixel point to a Image Sensors World article with visalization videos on how CMOS and CCD sensors differ: CMOS sensors use a rolling shutter and thus read pixel rows, while CCD sensors use a global shutter and read the entire image at once.
2015-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The Every Frame a Painting blog details how to do visual comedy in movie-making, by which they mean using visuals as primary means of conveying humor (the most extreme example being silent film slapstick). They highlight Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) as positive example of using humorous visuals.
2015-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 points to a nice MinuteEarth animation video on cloud formation. While we are at learning, Dorfuchs raps about partial integration [de] and JDD ("die Jungen Dichter und Denker") rap Theodor Fontane's ballad of John Maynard [de].
2015-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A host of little Java5 tools are included in this 1.6 MB jar (+1.2 MB source): datetime, database access, dependency injection, html access and parser including jQuery and JSON, and email. Should be nice.
2015-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) with a nice write-up on how he creates humor: Diversifying over the different kind of humor in people, and going in several passes over about 18 layers of writing. The best one: musicality. Just compare "A big kid kicked a milk can" to "Are you dancing on the dance floor or drinking by the bar?".
2015-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The Hyper Android blog has written a nice interactive 2D stroke visualization and article, with all the caps and joins on a triangle basis appropriate to WebGL. In related news: Why many apps handle color the wrong way due to the logarithmic nature of light perception, and why geometry shaders are slow caused by writing output to memory instead of handling syncs on their own.
2015-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reviews the Lytro Illum (40 megarays @ f2.0), the successor to the Lytro (10 megarays) [gallery]. Lightfield cameras have multiple focus planes [wiki] [video], allowing adjustment of depth-of-field [wiki] in post production. Lytro founder Ren Ng explains details in his PhD thesis. Costs 1600 EUR. Petapixel reports of the next plan: Lightfield video.
2015-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports on the Ubuntu Phone Aquaris E4.5 [press] [wiki], with Ubuntu on top of Android; Linux binaries run but GUI apps only with external monitor [forum] [xda-developers]. Using apt seems unstable [forum]. Costs 150 EUR.
2015-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget links to the Slow Mo Guys [wiki] who take the lens off a DSLR camera and use a Phantom Flex [wiki] high-speed camera to film the mechanical shutter in action.
2015-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
So the 31C3 happened in the last days of last year, and as always videos of the talks are online (schedule): The Fnord news 2014, two talks about quantum computing, TOR (the onion router) and fefe's recommendations.
2014-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reviews the Yota Phone 2, an Android mobile phone with an e-ink display on the backside for ebook reading, ticket display and always-on clock. But it can also display everything from the front display on the back display, though slower. Energy savings are considerable (on my Nexus S, 40% battery for display). Only disadvantage: The device is curved as a normal phone, so the back display is not planar. Costs 700 EUR.
2014-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Petapixel and Engadget report on 360 degree cameras: The Samsung Project Beyond records with 8 stereo pairs, while the EyeSee360 360fly and the Kodak PixPro SP360 use single cameras and a mirror in the style of traditional omnidirectional cameras.
2014-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A decade after the P5 glove (see my input devices) and other hand exoskeletons, Engadget, Joystiq and Road to VR report of the Dexmo VR glove prototype with the same goal, but now tailored towards the Oculus Rift VR environment. Could be combined with a Twiddler one-hand keyboard for text input.
2014-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget links to the ebook-reader blog reporting on the Sony DPT-S1, the only 13" e-ink reader, now available at 1000 EUR (Sony store). Finally a good device for A4 paper sized documents.
2014-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Petapixel shows a Toyota video with cameras mounted to rails, onto drones, below parachutes, and on motorcycles, all for typical car commercials. As for cameras, Nikon and Fujinon explain their lenses, and the jasmcole blog experiments with rolling shutters, which are detrimental to shooting car commercials.
2014-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The melting asphalt blog with an essay on "personhood": Basically the ability to be accepted as trustworthy, it is developed by persons throughout their childhood. Companies once sought the "right to be sued" in order to increase their trustworthiness.
2014-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Re:Vision brings optical flow (for slow-motion effects) to the SFX industry via the Twixtor plugin. Works best when the camera aperture is small, approximating a pinhole camera. Related: Apertures in less than 3 minutes (video) and a depth-of-field simulation.
2014-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
FXguide reports from the Siggraph, including SFX production of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (io9 is also on TNMT). In contrast, Edge of Tomorrow focuses on practical effects.
2014-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports on an omnidirectional camera system made of 6 synchronized RED EPIC Dragons with 6K resolution (6144x3160) each, by NextVR. Used to broadcast live events with look-around capabilities (only horizontal). Will need fisheye lenses to provide overlapping views for stitching.
2014-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 and Open Culture report that some Lecture Transcripts of Richard Feynmann, famed physicist and explainer, have been completed by Caltech. Previously, 7 lecture videos had been made available.
2014-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A surprising number of classic games have open source clones: Zelda (Solarus), Super Mario (Mega Mario), Paradroid (FreeDroid), Syndicate (FreeSynd) and of course, Counter Strike (Urban Terror).
2014-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Hideo Kojima's team shows a making-of video for the female character "Quiet": markerless 3D scanning of a real person's face, and subsequent modeling. For the Cyberpunk 2077 trailer (making-of) from Platigue, a similar but denser camera array was used by Infinite Realities.
2014-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Boingboing reports on the "Capital in the 21st century" book by Thomas Piketty: 300 years of Europa/USA economic data are analyzed on how much bigger capital gains (r) are than work gains (g). While r > g always holds true, large-scale capital-destroying events reduce the effect, while quieter times mean more wealth concentration.
2014-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Alex Clemmer with a nice little trick to recover deleted text files under Linux: Just use grep on /dev/mypartion. Seems obvious once you heard it... and will even work on encrypted partions with /dev/mapper/mycrypt. See also my Linux console guide.
2014-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 points to a NASA report on the IRIS satellite (2013), recording a solar flare up close in the ultraviolet spectrum: Looking at a sunspot from the side, some coronal loops visible, then the solar flare (size: about 4 earths) erupting before the accompanying CME (coronal mass ejection). In related news: Io9 on the earth's magnetic field via ESA Swarm (3 satellites).
2014-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The Atlantic examines the development of leisure (USA only) -- overall work hours have declined, but there is one exception: A very long education leads to more work than previously in history, and only shorter educations lead to more leisure. Related: Business Insider writes on the perception of time by different cultures; and Quora discusses common management mistakes.
2014-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Microsoft Research has built a prototype keyboard with built-in touchpad: Between the keys, infrared sensors (96 in total) track any hovering fingers, and a machine learning algorithm determines whether and which swipe gesture has occured. In unrelated news: Why you should not interrupt a programmer (comic). See also my input device guide.
2014-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a Makezine article on FDA approval of the DEKA ("Luke") arm, meaning that the prosthetic arm is production-ready (not only a DARPA prototype). It reads EEG signals and has 12 pre-programmed modes for basic grips, e.g. "insert and turn key", "open marmelade jar", providing highly specialized manual actions.
2014-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The Tyblog summarizes useful SSH operations, among them: Reverse SSH to overcome NAT'ed hosts; SSH tunneling to work around restricted port ranges; and mounting remote filesystems with sshfs. See also my Linux console guide.
2014-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The 1024 monkeys blog writes about TCP vs. UDP networking for games: While implementing custom persistency with UDP is always reliably faster, TCP may be already good enough -- if the slightly flawed congestion control strategy can be tolerated.
2014-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
With HTML/CSS, creating a fixed-size sidebar and a flexible main page on all browsers including mobile has always been possible but painful (wtf,html&css). Now, CSS3 flexbox (w3c) finally reinvents BorderLayout, and even adds flexible ordering. See also my web programming guide.
2014-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 links to Oliver Emberton's strategy guide to the adventure game called "life": Keep your stats (health, energy, willpower) full, stack your skills for superskills and choose missions wisely. Sweet.
2014-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget and Motherboard link to a Boston Globe report on the PillCam, used as a traveling camera thru the colon. Alternative: Wired variants like the 1cm3 micro camera by Awaiba and Fraunhofer (Engadget and TechCrunch report).
2014-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 reports on the erratically curved "knuckleballs" thrown by baseball pitchers: Avoiding spin, the seams on the ball create aerodynamic friction in a semi-random manner. Alan Nathan (U of Illinois, USA) provides research.
2013-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 links to a Ben Arthur/NPR animation on the body as ecosystem, called "the human microbiome": 10x as many bacteria/fungi cells than human cells, specialized bacteria e.g. for upper/lower arm skin, immune system, and of course digestion.
2013-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
ESA has determined the next steps (L2, L3) of its cosmic vision programme: Athena (L2, 2028) will use an x-ray telescope to study hot gases and black holes, and Elisa (L3, 2034) will use a gravimeter to study gravitational ripples between black holes. Slashdot also reports.
2013-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Nick Berry describes how to split an image into two random seeming ones, where both are needed for reconstruction. Based on the work of Moni Naor and Adi Shamir (one of the RSA guys).
2013-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Programming languages researcher Yin Wang muses about what is wrong with functional programming (FP) and also object-oriented programming (OOP). Hint: Not everything is described well with objects. And not everything is described well with functions.
2013-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An entire blog for Mandelbrot zooms, sonic boom propagation, envelopes, translation thru rotation, all as glorious GIFs. And the math behind it is explained nicely.
2013-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Popular science reports on a Bath university (UK) maze in which water droplets hover and move due to the Leidenfrost effect: The floor surface is so hot that vaporized water provides a cushion to the droplet that prevents it from vaporizing itself. The surface is jagged with the teeth slanted, thus the droplets move.
2013-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 and NY times report on a cute animation video by Shuyi Chiou, outlining the normal distribution and when to and when not to use it. All by counting rabbits and measuring dragon wingspan.
2013-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Pandas is a python library for reading and writing large tabular data where Excel fails already, but Hadoop is not necessary yet, as Chris Tucchio writes.
2013-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Nerdcore links to a Smithsonian article on the first sight of biological gears: Grasshopers synchronize their legs for jumping by using gears between them, as Camebridge [UK] research found out.
2013-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 reports on a Aurora Australis sighting from space (not just ground) made by NASA from recordings of the IMAGE satellite (2000-2005). In related news: SOHO recordings of a comet/sun collision, and answers for the astronaut helm gold coating.
2013-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 links to a national geographic article with a video of mosquitos searching for blood vessels with their stinger, and it is quite dynamic. In unrelated io9 and deep sea news: The pyrosome, a 20m long cloned colony of small plankton eaters.
2013-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Jalopnik writes on semi-forgotten space achievements: The first russian space walk (EVA), early Luna fotos from the dark side of the moon (long before Hiten), and the other Voyager. In unrelated news: Io9 on Earth's seasonal breathing.
2013-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot reports on a 2005 script that, originally thought of as basic guideline, is now taken as literal by-the-minute-formula, leading to strangely structured blockbusters, as argued by slate magazine (and again, within the formula).
2013-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 links to us vs. th3m with the claim: "You can't do math under pressure". Indeed, solving simple algebraic expressions gets more difficult if a progress bar limiting your time is added. Live science also has coverage on crumbling under pressure.
2013-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Fraunhofer experiments with an ARRI Alexa camera and 2 satellite cams, as hollywood reporter and 3D focus report. The cameras are synchronized, so that the multi-view information can be used to estimate depth and object boundaries.
2013-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 researches on how best to talk to children, including asking narrative-minded, open ended questions (since "how are you?" is understood literally, not as an invititation to talk more), not helping by guessing (children want to agree with you), confirming that "I dont know" is a valid answer, and not asking about time (not yet fully understood concept).
2013-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Bitcoin are fiat (belief-based) currency whose value comes from effort spent for brute-force cracking hashes. The Bitcoin wiki resolves common myths, and coding in my sleep gives a basic (if slightly lengthly) introduction.
2013-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The Dresden Codak blog writes on character design for comics: Choosing a more triangled or rounded style, designing faces around default expressions (where other facial expressions can "fight" the natural one), and choosing body type and language.
2013-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Moxie Marlinspike reports on a surveillance social hack, and links to RedPhone and TextSecure for Android. In related news, Duncan Bayne ponders expunging Google, with the help of own cloud as replacement.
2013-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The Eye Tribe company opens it developer SDK for its eye tracker that is small enough to be embedded into Android tablets, as Engadget and The Next Web report. Costs for manufacturers should be less than 5 EUR per device, and eye tracking is accurate to about 1cm, allowing basic user interaction.
2013-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The RED company has a new camera: the 6K Epic Dragon for 8KEUR. At the same time, Vision Research brings the Phantom Flex 4K, capable of 1000 fps for 5 seconds, for 110KEUR.
2013-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An e-ink e-reader to display PDFs should be 10" and above, but those are rare. The Onxy Boox M92 (store) is not too heavy with 520g, has a nice form factor, could use slightly higher resolution for comics than its 825x1200, is fast enough with 800 Mhz, uses a Wacom pen interface, and costs around 300 EUR. Not so nice: No pen compartment. Very nice: Their support (refunded at once). Only other contender at the moment: Ectaco Jetbook Color 2, with a 1200x1600 display, 660g, Wacom pen interface, 450 EUR, rumored to be slow at also 800 Mhz (comparison [de]).
2013-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Weavesilk is an artsy web app allowing you to draw symmetric generative art, with faint shadows around the main lines, and the order of symmetry adjustable. Shiny.
2013-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 points to a slow-motion video of wet animals shaking themselves dry, at a fixed frequency varying by animal (with a hedgehog, a mouse and a dog shown in the video). Coming from research by Dickerson, Mills and Hu, main findings: frequency depends on animal size and looseness of skin.
2013-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Sol has a nicely illustrated and animated article on motion interpolation: Say you want to move a ball between two points, with a natural feel to it. Use a variable between 0 and 1, and a multitude of nifty interpolation methods to get the position from the variable, from smoothstep to weighted averages to splines.
2013-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot reports of the Solowheel (tricks video), a minimalistic Segway without handle bars. Alternatives with handle include the Ryno and the DTV Shredder.
2013-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports of company Planetary Resources with a plan to mine minerals from asteroids; and Slashdot reports of company Deep Space Industries with the same goal. Seems like space flight is indeed getting less expensive.
2013-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget visits CES and reports comprehensively. My highlights: A mind-controlled R/C helicopter, a consumer 360 degree camera (400 EUR), a middle-range 600fps HD slow-mo camera from JVC (1000 EUR), a 20", 4K tablet from Panasonic, and the next-gen micro Kinect from PrimeSense.
2013-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
10 movies compete for visual effects (VFX) awards of 2012, as FXguide reports. On a related note, Avengers has a highlight reel and gender-swapped heros (fan art). And the winners are...
2012-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
At the end of the year, io9 remembers some great breakthroughs in 2012: Artifical DNA, the Higgs Boson, life from stem cells only, a mini tractor beam, and an AI based on Youtube. And there were predictions coming true: The first mechanically enhanced athlete, electronic intelligence boost devices, and communication via MRI. On the scientific frontier, a great year!
2012-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 reports of a PhD comics video in the style of RSA animate on blackbody radiation of stars (only emissions, no reflections = initial black body) and what the emission lines tell us in astronomy.
2012-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The days of RED cameras as the only digital 4K camera are nearing an end. On the CineAlta series, Sony released the PMW-F55 with a global shutter (astounding) and the F5 with rolling shutter. Costs around 60K.
2012-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports of the Magic finger by Autodesk research, a camera with motion sensor strapped to one finger. Can detect complex gestures, and be programmed to work differently depending on where you use it (e.g. on your clothes vs. on a desk).
2012-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
When seeing novel airplain shape proposals, one wonders: Are our current airplanes inefficient? Empirical zeal answers with a clear no. The faster a plane is, the more drag but the better lift. Our current planes have the optimal trade-off for a desired speed.
2012-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 reports on the NASA satellite pair named Van Allen Probes, which fly through the earth's magnetic van Allen belt and record a "chorus" of radio waves between 0 and 10 KHz, caused by plasma waves in the belts. The converted version sounds like birdsong.
2012-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Unfinishedman gives an overview of Nootropics (neuro enhancers) and discusses risks and benefits. Originally developed to counteract cognitive disabilities, they can act as performance enhancers (doping) for healthy brains too.
2012-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 features a NASA video of a coronal mass ejection (CME) on the sun: close-ups from AIA on SDO and total views from LASCO on SOHO, all in different wavelengths. Really good camera resolution.
2012-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Everything sysadmin shares some Linux command shell abuse: grep ., more |, egrep --color '^|foo|bar', and fmt -1. Smart little hacks. See also my Linux console guide.
2012-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The mars probe Curiosity (aka MSL) by NASA has landed, as Nerdcore and countless others report. Camera spec and first pictures via peta pixel.
2012-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Natural phenomena at high frame rates: Lightning recorded with 7200 FPS. It shows how electricity tentacles search the air volume for paths to discharge, and the shortest path to earth gets a boost once connected.
2012-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Combine two Kinects, artsy visuals and the Ableton sound programming software, and there is the V-Motion project (video); Nerdcore points to a creatorsproject article. Making-of available for instrument and visuals, or in a compact version.
2012-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
After solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CME), now solar tornados have been confirmed, as Io9 reports from national geographic. The tornados might contribute to the corona being hotter than the sun's surface (photosphere), a previously unexplainable phenomenon.
2012-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Parsing websites with Python can be useful for testing and automated information gathering. Ghost is based on webkit, lxml a minimalistic alternative. Classic Python only provides a visitor style API named html parser, but no DOM.
2012-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Jonas Boner (of aspect oriented programming fame) provides some contemporary latency numbers: Cache and RAM access in the order of nanoseconds, network access in microseconds, SSD or harddisk in the order of milliseconds.
2012-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to a Tokyo university prototype of a colloidal display made from a projector and soap bubbles: Normally transparent, but getting more opaque when ultrasonic sound is applied.
2012-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Our cosmos often has recurring geometric patterns. A video shown by Johan Hidding and colleagues at Groningen university (Netherlands) gets mathsy with those geometric structures.
2012-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A person's first impression is hard to classify, so the judg.me project by Bharath Iyer used a "hot or not" style site for empirical evaluation of 12 traits, among them: short hair makes women appear more sociable, while long hair hints at men less smart and less sociable; sunglasses make you appear more sociable at the expense of smartness, normal glasses have the opposite effect.
2012-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Take 96 synchronized cameras with long exposure and you can paint with light, as Richard Kendall demonstrates. Also cool: "body mechanics" with a multi-camera setup, and sprayer Jeff Soto using a robot arm mounted in a car trunk for mechanic street art.
2012-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The non-Earth planets in our solar system have cool moons too, and Io9 describes 10 of them: Most around Saturn (Mimas, Enceladus, Iapetus, Titan, Hyperion) and Jupiter (Europa, Io), but as far as Neptune (Triton) and near as Mars (Phobos). There is also a video on the evolution of Earth's moon, and why the moon is not diffuse by James Palmer. In unrelated news, petri dish is science crowd funding.
2012-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Heise reports on the cstick Cotton Candy by FXI, a full Ubuntu computer the size of a large USB stick. HDMI and USB at the ends, bluetooth, wifi, a MicroSD card as harddisk, dual core, 1GB RAM. Costs 200 EUR. See also my MiniPC guide.
2012-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Finally, an OpenGL tutorial for version 4, made by an openbook effort. Unlike previous versions, everything is done with vertex and index lists, and all the projection math is performed by external libraries. Also pertinent: Another tutorial and the OpenGL4 reference.
2012-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The Huang brothers updated their "Scale of the Universe" interactive demo: Using just a slider for size scale, you can watch various examples of different-sized objects and put them into relation. From quantom foam to the Hubble deep field.
2012-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Another iteration of the "display on a window pane": Slashdot and geek point to a Verge article on a transparent touchscreen by Samsung. Only viewable from one side, uses either sunlit background or backlight, OLED based with HD (1920x1080) resolution at 120cm diagonal. Engadget also has coverage.
2012-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Ycombinator has a thread on machine learning (fitting a model to data in order to make predictions), with a focus on Python ML libraries: Choose among scikit learn, shogun and theano. For background, the video-based Stanford ML course by Andrew Ng with some notes from Alex Holehouse are good sources.
2011-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 points to a Make magazine article on a nostril LED jewel accessoire by Noda Akira (video), which glows in rythm with your nose breathing. First introduced at Tokyo maker faire.
2011-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a New York times article on the MIT picosecond camera (video). Only one pixel row at a time, the device is time-exact enough to capture only one wavefront returning from a short-length light pulse. Repeat on a static scene until all lines, for all returning wavefronts, have been captured: Voila, wavefront photography.
2011-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Nerdcore points to a creators project report on interactive movies created from geological data such as Google streetview, headed by Aaron Koblin from Google Data Arts. Projects range from a post-apocalyptic streets browser (rome) to, not-very-geo, the sheep market, a shop with 10.000 sheep drawings from Amazon mechanical turk workers.
2011-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 points to a good Bret Victor rant about future user interfaces, when compared to the current "images under glass" (e.g. smartphones, tablets) paradigm. Considering human haptic capabilities, he considers the current state of the art less expressive than a sandwich.
2011-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
FX guide outlines the art of rotoscoping, a film production technique where each frame is edited separately, but the goal is still to have fluent motion. From the manual beginnings with e.g. Disney to modern approaches with e.g. Adobe After Effects.
2011-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Nerdcore and Creative Review report of Krump360, a dance video with Matrix style freeze-rotate shots, made by Ryan Hughes and the Big Freeze group, using 48 synchronized Nikon D700 cameras (making-of). Allows slow motion in space, even with long exposures, but no slow-motion in time.
2011-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An egoshooter game with code snippets as ammo: Nerdcore reports of Code Hero, where you grab a lot of source code and use it to make things happen, or just as ammunition. In unrelated news, Nerdcore also reports of the new Humble bundle, a pay-as-much-as-you-want indi game pack.
2011-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Evolving from underwater cameras, now underwater video cameras: Engadget reports of the CountourRoam HD camcorder, usable 1m submerged for 30 minutes, at 200 EUR. In related (but overwater) news, Engadget also reports on the movie industry Sony F65 CineAlta 4K camera, recording 4K at 72fps, at 65000 EUR.
2011-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Heise reports of the new Postgres 9 database, which finally supports synchronized replication. If you have a cluster, any write access is only completed when all active DB have it confirmed, so any action is atomic over the cluster. Oracle has had it for a long time, and now it is a first among open source databases.
2011-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Siggraph 2011, the largest computer graphics conference on the planet (5-minute run-down), again showed the newest in research: CT scanned textiles, focus blur hardware, realtime fluids, ray beams (research papers); and lots of artwork and emerging technologies. More on the Siggraph blog.
2011-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Know Your Cell has a whole list of articles on the HTC Desire (Bravo), including hard resetting and rooting (e.g. with Cyanogen mod). I still like the phone because it has actual push buttons.
2011-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
And it is time again for the pwnie awards, featuring both server-side and client-side security exploits of bugs in software -- a friendly reminder to not only code safely, but also securely. Bonus points go to RSA, who got their private keys stolen but did not consider this to be a problem for their customers.
2011-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 links to an IEEE spectrum chart on different kinds of hacking: Using "simple vs. complex" on one axis and "low vs. high impact" on the other, multiple hacking examples are rated on a graph. Good for explaining hacking to people not familiar with the subject.
2011-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An Oslo university video with a nice basic explanation on the formation of Aurorae: Solar flares fling (among other things) superfast electrons to earth, which are directed into the earth's magnetic field either directly or from behind the earth in a magnetic reconnection tunnel, and ultimately reach either the (magnetic) north or south pole.
2011-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Lightfield camera use not one, but a whole array of lenses, which makes it possible to record images at different depths within one shot. Heise [de] reports of the upcoming Lytro camera. Competitor Raytrix already sells several models; they also have a good basic technical description.
2011-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Endgadget points to an IEEE spectrum article on a Kilobot swarm by Harvard (US). Each bot is basically a battery with infrared transceiver and three legs, each with a vibrator. An emitter from above, reflecting off the ground, coordinates the swarm movements; alternatively, bots may also reflect their infrared emissions off the ground. Each bot costs about 15 EUR in parts.
2011-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 and Endgadget point to a Wired article on a spherically shaped drone: A lightweight rigid mesh on the outside, rotors and payload on the inside. Can bump into walls and roll around after falling without damage. Developed by the japanese defense ministry, using mostly parts from Akihabara.
2011-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports of new augmented reality (AR) glasses by Vuzix: The Star 1200 has two 800x480px translucent displays and one 1080p HD camera, at the cost of 5K. The previously released Wrap 920 AR has two cameras over the non-translucent displays, but lower resolution and is much bulkier, at 2K cost.
2011-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Want 320x200 pixel Nintendo games in 1920x1080 pixel HD? Slashdot links to an Extreme Tech article on another Microsoft research work by Johannes Kopf, who vectorizes pixel art and can then upsample it like any SVG.
2011-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Endgadget links to a Reg Hardware article on a Microsoft research project for the next Kinect replacement: Using a wearable necklace and the known electromagnetic noise in a room, the body is used as an antenna to determine the location of limbs.
2011-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget and Heise [de] report of a flexible phone display prototype by Ontario University, which serves as an input device: Folding the edges and bending the middle can be used for navigation and button pressing.
2011-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget links to an OLED Display article on a combined eyetracker/microdisplay prototype by Fraunhofer. It is worn over one eye and features a transparent monochrome display with built-in photodetectors used for eye tracking.
2011-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to a Gawker article on animated GIF art: More than a picture and less than a video, these fotos or paintings contain only subtle motion that enhance immersiveness or realism. More coverage: If we dont, strawberry beer, Gizmodo.
2011-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 links to a Bad Astronomy article on sunspot formation: A video from the SDO satellite shows the magnetic activity forming a sunspot group. Because atoms in the sun are not electrically neutral, they both form, and are guided by magnetic fields.
2011-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Kinect devices are not the only ones that can use speckle patterns to increase resolution: As Endgadget and Technology Review report, Twente University [NL] has created a microscope prototype which uses speckle pattern lighting ("wavefronts") to achieve a resolution better than 200nm (smaller than visible light wavelengths).
2011-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
3D recording is usually done with several cameras; an alternative approach is to use one camera with a lens that is actually an array of microlenses. Io9, Engadget and Physorg link to an Ohio University article on their 3D microlens prototype that is small enough to be used in microscopy.
2011-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot and Gizmag link to a Pocket Lint article on the Celluon Evo Mouse: Similar to their laser keyboard, an infrared scanner reads the position of fingers off any desk, and interprets the movement as a touchpad interaction.
2011-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 links to a Pogomix remix video: A stuttering, elegant trance track using snippets from the Lord of the Rings movie. In unrelated electronic music news, Symbiz has its third dubstep demo tape out.
2011-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports of the Fogale hover touchscreen prototype: A capacitive screen that can sense a finger hovering above it, to differentiate that from an actual touch.
2011-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot reports that LOFAR has gone live: A distributed, giant set of radio wave receivers called Low Frequency Array (video). While normal telescopes are for shorter wavelengths, longer (e.g. more than 1m) require a bigger area telescope. See also the 1728 wavelength/frequency converter.
2011-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 reports of a giant coronal hole, about 1/2 the sun's radius, observed by JAXA satellite Hinode. Project partner NASA also has some coverage. In unrelated news, a nightsky timelapse in Chile is quite beautiful.
2011-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget and Oh Gizmo report of the Phantom Flex prototype by Vision Research: An HD (1920x1080) camera with 2500fps, or one frame each 1/3rd millisecond.
2011-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 and Physorg report of the eyeball camera prototype by University of Illinois: Similar to the inside of our eyes, the photoreceptor area is curved; and the lens is flexible. Both are controlled by water pressure, emulating muscles around the eyes.
2011-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to a Harvard paper about a "silencing" effect in our human visual system (HVS): While we notice movement in our visual periphery very well, we do not notice it when objects mutate, e.g change their color. Test video included. Unrelated but also nice: The rotating dancer illusion.
2011-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports of another contender in AR (augmented reality) glasses: The Active-i sunglasses, with one camera between the eyes, and playback on one eye only. In related news, Engadget also reports (and tests) the second generation of Recon AR ski goggles, now with Android API.
2010-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Convinced that the world is getting worse? The data shows different. Slashdot links to a Singularity Hub article on Hans Rosling (of Gapminder fame) from University Stockholm (Sweden) showing that both global longevity and wealth have increased considerably in the last 200 years.
2010-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The Microsoft Kinect hardware is there, and Heise reports of PC open source drivers already available: The enthusiast OpenKinect project and the consortium OpenNI project. OpenKinect integrates well with OpenCV (code sample) and runs well with Ubuntu 10.4 LTS. OpenNI seems more professional but also more complex due to its generalized API.
2010-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget points to a Physorg article about a 360 degree camera developed by University of Lausanne (Switzerland): A half-sphere covered by tiny cameras, much like a fly's eye is covered by facettes. Together, these cameras can record detailed 3D videos.
2010-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Computer vision is taking a image or a video taken by a camera, and making sense of it: Detect things, interpret the environment, track these things within the environment. Society of Robots has a nice tutorial series about the CV basics.
2010-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports of the Bend Desk prototype by RWTH University Aachen (Germany): A touch desk input device with an upward bend; and in the bend, users can drag their images, files and other data.
2010-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 reports of J-Pop (japanese pop music) singers that are entirely virtual: The person is an anime character, and the voice is computer generated. All other musicians of the band are still real humans, though.
2010-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot reports of CDE (no, not the window manager), which packs your Linux app with all required libraries and configuration files into one autopackage, which can then be executed on other Linux systems. Nice idea for distributing proof-of-concepts, not recommended for operational software.
2010-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Every image (pixels in 2D) can also be interpreted as a lot of 2D waves, and one popular representation is the Fourier image. A visual tutorial by QS Imaging shows how it works.
2010-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A robotic hand without fingers uses a deformable balloon instead, the result: Fine-tuned gripping ability. Prototype by Chicago university, reported by Cornell news, Engadget, Science magazine and Slashdot.
2010-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Old school television at its best: A 1941 classroom film by K.K.Bosse explains how the eyes work; particularly how the eye anatomy performs focusing.
2010-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot reports of the JS1K competition: Write a demo animation, this time not below 4KB assembler, but below 1KB Javascript.
2010-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The Xiph guys have a nice primer on digital video: What exactly is in this AVI container you see all the time? Unsurprisingly, the primer is a video itself, accompanied by a transcript. Reported by Slashdot.
2010-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Career advice of the different kind: Matt Might describes, in a few pictures, the knowledge path to a PhD. Off topic: PhD comics (the Dilbert of universities) may also be a good source of information. And Robert Azuma chimes in with more advice.
2010-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to a Shareable article on Algae farming: With a good seed, a thin aquarium and a pump, algae that actually taste good can be grown on a window sill. The Algae lab movement has some first-start instructions.
2010-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
After 3 months of development, I released my first Android app: MonthlyCalendar ("Mon Cal"). It focuses on a good monthly view, as this is the one I use exclusively. And it has some nice features like gestures, search and so on.
2010-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Graph (diagram) editing on Linux, Mac and Windows has always been an issue, as few sophisticated cross-platform programs are available. yEd is available as library and as application, and comes from a company entirely dedicated to drawing graphs.
2010-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 explains why golf balls (who are supposed to go as fast as possible) have dimples: Although it seems aerodynamically unwise at first, the dimples create local airflow distortions that improve the overall airflow around the ball. Original sources: Live Science and How stuff works.
2010-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports on the madget concept by Uni Aachen, Germany: A mouse like input device lies on a touchscreen with magnets under it. The magnets can move the mouse from below, providing haptic feedback and indicating state, together with the touchscreen.
2010-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports (with video) about a Sony prototype: A cylinder which serves as a 3D display from all (horizontal) angles around it, without requiring glasses. Vertical angles are limited. Seen at Siggraph 2010.
2010-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget and Inhabitat link to a Daily Mail article about a design concept bicycle with a flexible frame: This way, you can bend the entire body around a pole to lock it around it. During cycling, the frame is made rigid.
2010-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to a TEU sink article on hacking a Logitech wireless presenter (presented at "Hack in the Box" in Amsterdam). In short: Open up device, google chip IDs, read command set at FCC site, sniff bus with IC clip, buy same chip, combine with Arduino, send commands. The communication was not encrypted, and used a proprietary protocol for "protection". Source code available.
2010-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The low-flying (255 km) ESA satellite GOCE has produced a detailed gravity map of our earth, as Slashdot and BBC report. Map now available.
2010-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot and Physorg report of the Khan Academy: One good lecturer uploads 10-minute videos on Algebra, Calculus, Statistics, Physics, Chemistry and so on to Youtube. Just a virtual chalk board and a voice, but great for learning.
2010-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports of augmented reality (AR) glasses becoming more mainstream: The Vuzix Wrap920AR, sporting camera and display over each eye, is announced for 2010 and will cost less than 1000 EUR. Researchers can join the Vuzix AR Education Group. In other news, eye tracking may get easier with the Tobii glasses (reported by Engadget too).
2010-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The Ikaros mission by JAXA (the japanese space agency) has deployed a 20m solar sail by slowly spinning it out, as Slashdot, Centauri Dreams and Inhabitat report. It will research the propulsion provided by the Sun's photons bouncing off the sail.
2010-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Heise reports of 4 types of NoSQL (not-only-SQL) database that grow into niches relational databases will not cover: Document oriented like CouchDB; graph oriented like Neo4J; key/value oriented like Redis; or column oriented like Cassandra.
2010-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
If you want to see the spot on earth that a satellite is currently hovering over, you use ground tracks. Sebastian Stoff has developed Orbitron, a Windows software that does this for a wide range of satellites.
2010-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports (with video) on a quadrocopter capable of quite aggressive maneuvers, like flying through a vertical slit into a room. Prototype by Uni Pennsylvania (USA).
2010-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot and Inhabitat report of two MIT commercial aircraft concepts: One to replace the Boing 737 on domestic flights, and one to replace the Boing 777 for international flights. Both have wider bodies, smaller wings and turbines at the rear, where the air pressure is lower; and cut fuel use by up to 70%.
2010-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Finding beautiful free fonts is a constant challenge for web designers, one that the Font Squirrel website attempts at solving. In related news: Smashing magazine with an article about the myriad different font systems used world wide, by different cultures.
2010-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a Pettijohn article comparing three Thinkpad-style keyboards, which have a joystick in the middle. The verdict: Lenovo keyboards have the best stick, if not the best keys.
2010-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Boing boing reports on a music video by psychology teacher Brad Wray about our cognitive biases: From hindsight bias ("I knew it all along") over confirmation bias ("I only listen to what I agree with") to self-consistency bias ("my opinion now was my opinion then").
2010-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget and Medgadget link to an Eureka article about a robotic arm in the form of a elephant trunk, made by German company Festo. The trunk can react to pressure by humans and is targetted to improve human/machine interactions in assembly lines.
2010-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
SDO (the Solar Dynamics Observatory), a NASA satellite looking at the Sun, has begun sending images. Slashdot links to a Network World article, NASA's Scientific Visualisation Studio (SVS) has images, and the SDO youtube channel has videos.
2010-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
After multitouch (with fingers), now multi toe (with shoes): Engadget links to a Design Boom report on a 2x2 m mat that recognizes different shoes, the relative applied load (so you can lean to the left or right), and up to 10 persons at once. Made by Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam.
2010-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to a Network World article on how multiple satellites help monitoring the ash clouds from Island volcano "Eyjafjallajokull": Envisat and Metop (ESA), Aqua and Aura (NASA) and GOES 14 (NOAA).
2010-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The evolution of a person as a programmer can be described as gaining competence -- or by acquiring different stages of incompetence, as described by Coderoom: From enthusiastic newbie, over budding genius and abstraction freak, towards veteran and uncaring guru.
2010-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 has a nice summary of six ways to monitor brain activity: From the classic EEG (electric) over CAT and PET (xray) to more modern methods like MRI and MEG (magnetic).
2010-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to a BBC article about the Solar Storm Watch project: You can volunteer to spot CME (coronal mass ejection) indicators on STEREO 3D images, a task that is appearantly hard to compute.
2010-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget, New Scientist and Physorg report of the Skinput input device prototype: A sensor strapped around the upper arm measures the muscle vibrations when you put a finger on the lower arm, effectively turning the lower arm area into a touchscreen.
2010-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 reports of art in recycling: Mecha horses seem to emerge directly out of a wall; although the sculptures stand still, the dynamics of movement have been captured very well.
2010-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
In order to get away from self-signed certificates for HTTPS, the StartSSL company gives out free 1-year, no-subdomain certificates. Although these are some restrictions, it is a good start (see also Wikipedia's comparison of SSL certificates).
2010-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget points to a Lion Lion Lion article about AR (augmented reality) in the Zeal Transcend ski goggles: Integrated head-up display and GPS. Concept only so far; probably out in Q4/2010 for about 400 EUR.
2010-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget links to an Inhabitat article on a self powered streetlight concept: A vertical turbine is strapped onto the pole and harnesses the wind of cars driving by, in order to power the LED lights on top.
2010-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports about Puyocon, a tennis ball shaped input device from Tsukuba University, which measures pressure, speed, and rotation. Similar concepts: Blobo from ball-it and iOrb from TU Vienna.
2010-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports of the Sensawaft, a novel input device: It looks like a headset and you can blow on the microphone, which measures direction and speed. Currently used to control mouse cursor. Prototype status, will cost around 100 EUR.
2010-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to a Integrity Logic article on freely available height maps of the earth, taken from the space shuttle via radar (SRTM). NASA provides data and an overview. Taken in 2000, but calibrated until today.
2009-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Adam Bien reports that Glassfish v3, the Java EE 6 reference implementation, has been released. Eclipse 3.5 support is also provided. Supporting evidence: 8 reasons to use Java EE 6.
2009-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget and JKK Mobile point to a Netbooked article on the Stantum Slate display: It not only measures where your 10 fingers are, but also how hard you are pressing. Painting with a brush works too. Currently in prototype status.
2009-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
After 2 months of development, I have just released JDistUnit version 0.1.0 under GPL. JDistUnit is an extension to JUnit, allowing multiple hosts to participate in distributed unit testing. This is particularly useful if you want to load/stress test a web server, with requests coming from multiple machines.
2009-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
In commemoration of the 10th anniversary of "The Matrix" movie, Boing boing points to the Lego Matrix people, who have build the "Trinity, help!" scene in motion captured Lego.
2009-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Classic mandelbrot is one of the best 2D fractals in existence. Finding a 3D equivalent, the mandelbulb, is an ongoing quest. Slashdot points to a Skytopia article which shows some truly beautiful variants on that quest.
2009-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Inhabitat, Slashdot, Engadget, Daily Mail and IT Pro report of the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) satellite launched by ESA. Main instrument: MIRAS (Microwave Imaging Radiometer using Aperture Synthesis), a tree-arm sensor which produces moisture maps of land and salinity maps of seas. Main insight: Thermal and wheather movement on earth.
2009-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot and io9 link to a NASA article: As the IBEX satellite (video) has found out, the heliosphere (where solar wind from our sun and galactic cosmic rays from the milky way meet) is not smooth, instead featuring a giant high-energy ribbon roughly in our direction of travel within the milky way. Probably caused by magnetic field mixing between our sun and other stars.
2009-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
IEEE Spectrum, Engadget, Slashdot and CNet report of the iRobot ChemBot robot prototype: Essentially a ball made of several pieces of foam which can lose or gain air. Fill one piece, and the ball will roll in one direction; suck the air out, it will roll into the other direction. DARPA funded research project.
2009-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget has a report of current mouse prototypes at Microsoft Research: All with multitouch capabilities, some with additional cameras, two-finger-hold, and other gimmicks. Video included.
2009-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget links to a Pink Tentacle article about the Panasonic/Activelink Dual Arm Power Amplification Robot: Two giant robot arms in a chassis that amplify your arm movements and provide force feedback (think Power Loader robot in Alien or Dr. Octopus in Spiderman).
2009-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Boing boing and Engadget report of SGI's Octane III desktop computer, with up to 80 cores and 1 TB RAM. Prices are not available on the SGI website, but are rumored to be 8000 EUR upwards.
2009-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget links to a TG Daily article about the Sandia Urban Hopper: A shoebox size RC (remote control) car with a piston activated leg in the center, allowing jumps of 5m in height (e.g. over a fence). The chassis is hardened to survive the jumps.
2009-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot discusses the best way to format an external hard disk, and if you can afford losing file permission settings, NTFS is probably the best option: Read/write support in Linux, and with NTFS-3G (installs like a normal application) also for MacOS X (PPC and Intel). FAT32 has a 4 GB file size limit.
2009-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to a Bunnie Studios article which compares H1N1 ("swine flu") to a computer virus: H1 maps to a specific "port" of the body (windpipe in humans, gut in birds); in contrast, the H5 of H5N1 ("avian flu") maps to the human inner lungs. And the entire gene sequence of H1N1 would be about 3.2 KB.
2009-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Boing boing, Engadget and Hizook report of a high speed robot hand from University of Tokyo, Japan (paper). It can catch thrown mobile phones, dribble a ball and perform pen tricks faster than it is possible to see it.
2009-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
For everyone needing more screen on a notebook: Engadget links to a Gizmodo article about the gScreen notebook, which has two screens in its cover: one slides out half left, the other one half right, so you have double width. Concept only so far. Japanese company Kojinsha has a netbook with the same concept.
2009-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A Stack Overflow discussion compares embedded databases for Java: On the relational side, the main contenders are Apache Derby (included since JDK 6), the classic HSQLDB and its successor H2. For object oriented databases, Berkeley DB from Oracle, JDBM, Perst and db4o might be candidates.
2009-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget links to an Oh Gizmo article about the DJ Mouse, which has a jog wheel and a scratch pad on top, and glows in the dark. Costs about 80 EUR and comes with MacOS and Windows software.
2009-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Odi blog writes about Date, Calendar and DateFormat handling in Java. Also noteworthy are Joda Time to enhance the existing Java API; and the new JSR 310, which proposes better Date handling for JDK 7.
2009-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Starting in 2011, Tubesat is a new option for bringing a microsatellite into LEO (low earth orbit, here: 310 km). Slashdot links to a Space Fellowship article describing the Tubesat offer by the Interorbital company: For 8K$, 200g payload can be put into a pre-tested tube including controller, battery/solar panels and antenna/transceiver. The current Cubesat concept allows 1kg payload for 25K$ under similar conditions.
2009-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The Eclipse foundation has just released Eclipse 3.5 (Galileo), and in parallel Eclipse 4 is in prototyping (version 0.9). Heise [de] reports of a E4 whitepaper describing the new web-oriented way: CSS styling of SWT components, organising JavaScript applications in OSGi bundles to run alongside Java plugins, and allowing SWT to run per Ajax in a browser.
2009-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget links to a Freshome article about an Urban Screen art experiment in Hamburg, Germany: A normal beamer projection on a building wall, but this one makes it seem as if things come out of or into the wall, rendering an eerie 3D effect. Video is provided.
2009-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget points to a Hot Hardware article about the Razer Orochi mouse, which connects either wireless or per USB (the latter recharging the mouse battery) and is ambidextrous. Costs 80 EUR and comes out in October 2009.
2009-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Herschel/Planck are a pair of deep space observation satellites (think "Hubble"), located at L2 behind the earth, and cooled down almost to absolute zero for better heat view. And they have reached operational status. First pictures by the Herschel Mission Blog, ESA, Slashdot and BBC. Planck is now at 0.1 degree C above absolute zero, as Science Daily, Slashdot and BBC report.
2009-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot reports of the AcceleGlove from AnthroTronix, a glove with accelerometers on each finger and on the back of the hand, giving you position (and thus finger flexing) information. Comes with a Java API (Linux/MacOS/Windows), connects through USB and costs 500 EUR. Alternative: the Data Glove 5 Ultra from 5DT, with wireless and for 1000 EUR.
2009-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to a BBC report of the Terra satellite and one of its instruments named Aster (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer), which delivers detailed height maps of the earth's surface (30m resolution). The data is freely available through the Aster GDEM Archive. Aster is a joint undertaking of the Japanese Trade Agency METI (suprisingly not JAXA) and NASA. Alternative data source: The WIST archive at NASA.
2009-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to a NASA article about the mysteriously long timespan we had without sunspots: Turns out that 7000 km below the sun surface, jet streams wander from pole to equator, causing sunspots on the way; and one of the jet streams was delayed. The sun creates new jet streams every 11 years, coinciding with the solar cycle. In other news: NASA on solar minima, and a sunspot video linked by Wired magazine.
2009-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget, Gizmo Watch, Technabob and Future of Things magazine link to an Aving article about the Cideko Air Keyboard: Using an accelerometer, it doubles as a 3D mouse, so you can type and wave the keyboard around to have both.
2009-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports of emerging augmented reality software, namely Wikitude, NRU and Layar. All use a phone's camera for capture and its display for instant augmentation. Currently only available for Android phones.
2009-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A new input method for PDAs: Write big letters in the air while holding the phone; the accelerometers will help in recognizing the way, and convert the movements to actual keystrokes. Written by 4 students from Duke university, USA; Engadget and Slashdot report.
2009-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget and Gizmodo link to a My Digital Life article of the Peregrine data glove: Pressing your fingers on different spots on the glove produces key clicks, making one-handed input possible. Not suitable for action games, but maybe for RTS. Prototype only for now, but targetted cost is around 150 EUR.
2009-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot reports of the scientific plotting library world: GNUplot the classic (with insane language), PLplot the 17 year old, matplotlib with the sane language, and CairoPlot the pretty. And this is only the mainstream.
2009-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
What made the old 2D platform games so great? Slashdot links to a Significat Bits article, while noting that it is just the greatest of Jump N Runs that we remember (the others being forgotten). The gist: Precise movement, surprising level design, and multiple actions at the same time are things often not working too well in 3D games.
2009-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
After the Fit-PC and the Fit-PC slim (which I own), the Fit-PC 2 mini PC has arrived, as Engadget reports. Passive cooled, Atom 1.6Ghz, 1GB RAM fixed, LAN and WLAN, 4 USB and 2 Mini-USB ports. Around 400 EUR with 160GB HD and Ubuntu.
2009-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Neuroph is a Java library for modeling neural networks, useful for image recognition e.g. in games. On this topic, Slashdot links to a Dot-A article.
2009-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
For everyone following EJB3 (Enterprise Java Beans, since version 3 as simple as Spring): TheServerSide reports of update 3.1, which brings us simplified singletons in application scope, simplified asynchronous calls, and finally some decent JNDI naming rules.
2009-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget and Slashdot link to a Technology Review article (plus video) about a touchscreen extra layer with tiny bubbles in it: These can inflate/deflate to add haptic feedback upon finger presses on the screen. Prototype by Chris Harrison from University of Pittsburg, USA.
2009-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Io9 and BBC note that our sun has been awfully quiet - and we are expected to be close to a solar maximum (and magnetic field change in the sun, and according to the Mayans, at the end of a 5000 year cycle in 2012). In related news, the NASA Themis mission changes our view of earth's magnetic field, and Wired and Slashdot ponder the risks we may face from solar activity.
2009-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports (with video) of the Sharp Mebius notebook prototype, which replaces the trackpad by an LCD touchscreen. Now, application specific keys and handwriting recognition are additional possibilities.
2009-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
On Windows, the Process Explorer from the Microsoft/Sysinternals guys has always been a good help to me. Even better, the VM Map tool shows me everything I ever wanted to know about the memory usage of an application. Great for a first try at performance monitoring.
2009-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Beaming solar power electricity from satellites to earth via micro waves is getting more popular, as Fresno Bee and Engadget note. Competing with a JAXA project (Japanese space agency), the californian company Solaren opens a project too.
2009-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A solar oven simply made from black cardbord, aluminium foil and acrylic glass has won a Kyoto Energy award, as Boing Boing and CNN report. Costs 5 EUR, can be flat packed and may save a lot of fire wood around the world.
2009-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A guy named Marc offers his comprehensive IP address to geo address ("IP geolocation") database for free - as MySQL dump, or with a webservice API. Groovy.
2009-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
BoingBoing shows a scandinavian university project: A flash video with little red riding hood ("Rotkäppchen" in German), and a very systematic approach in storytelling.
2009-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
After developing the Orbiter (breed) using JOGL, I started writing the tutorial I wished to have found when starting out: Pragmatic, explaining the intent behind operations but not basking in the math, and entirely from a software developer perspective.
2009-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Small Basic is a extremely simple programming language for children, to get and keep their interest in coding. Unlike MIT Scratch or Alice (of Randy Pausch fame), which teaches concept like variables visually, it is about code.
2009-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
On 2009-02-10, defunct russian Cosmos 2251 and US-american Iridium 33 satellites collided, a highly unlikely incident (covered by almost everyone, including the MilCom blog) contributing to more orbital space debris. A Wall Street Journal article ponders methods for space debris removal along with Slashdot, Heavens Above has orbital information (top/side images), and Wired links to freely available debris datasets. In related news, Space Daily reports from the European Space Debris conference.
2009-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget and Daily Mail report about the complete overkill virtual reality helmet from Warwick university: Widescreen and surround sound, smell tube in the nose, taste jets in the mouth, and a hot/cold fan for temperature.
2009-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
io9 links to a Wired article (with a part 2) about the emerging field of neuro science and engineering: Basically magnetic and electric stimulation in the right places of the brain to evoke everything from paralysis to joy to religous awakenings.
2009-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget links to a Inhabitat article about batteries wrapped in solar foil: Just let them stand alone and they will recharge themselves. In retrospect, it seems kind of obvious. Concept only so far.
2009-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports (twice) of the Asus EEE keyboard at Cebit, which reminds me of Amiga times: A keyboard with built-in computer, this time with a mini screen too, in case a monitor is missing.
2009-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
My experiments with JOGL (the Java OpenGL binding) came to a result: The Orbiter (breed), version 0.2. It shows a satellite in a Kepler orbit (semi-major axis, eccentricy, inclination, argument of perigee, right ascension of ascending node), which you can change. Installer for Linux, Mac, Win provided.
2009-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Meilir Page-Jones from Wayland describes the 7 stages of expertise (innocent, exposed, apprentice, practitioner, journeyman, master and researcher) and how they apply to bear hunting and software development alike. Although from 1998, the article is still worth reading.
2009-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget and Gizmo Watch report of a Wuerzburg University touchscreen with added depth: A foam layer allows going slightly into 3D, thereby forming CAD bodies or indicating importance of keywords by deeper presses.
2009-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot, Engadget and Linux devices report of the Marvell SheevaPlug mini PC - the size of a large trafo, it plugs directly into the power socket, so that only ethernet must be supplied. 1 GHz, 512 MB RAM, 512 MB flashdisk. About 100 EUR.
2009-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Popular Science reports of "spring powered" undergarments for sports: Polymer springs take in energy with easy movements (e.g. crouching) and give it back during hard movements (e.g jumping), allowing you to bring extra power to the most crucial moment.
2009-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reviews (after previous coverage) the now market-ready Orbita mouse: A hybrid between mouse and control knob, which scrolls fluidly and also serves as 3D mouse. About 100 EUR.
2009-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget points to a translated Nowhere Else article about the Cubtile input device by Immersion: Multitouch panels on five sides of a cube, which allows gestures in 3D. Touch User Interface blog also has coverage.
2009-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget links to a Daily Tech report about an improved nano sized car by Rice Unversity, USA. In other (bigger vehicle) news: The Automotive X prize, driver-less taxis, and the Mission One electric motorcycle.
2009-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget links to a Dustbowl article on the Light Lane concept: A bicycle light which projects a lane and a "bike" sign onto the pavement, clearly visible to car drivers at night, who can see the direction of travel on it.
2009-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget links to a Gadget Review article on the Mindflex, the simplest of brain input devices: Concentrate is "up", relax is "down". Quite simpler than Emotiv or Neurosky. The Telegraph also has coverage.
2009-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
ESA (the European Space Agency) can do open source too, as Slashdot reports. Recently, the NEST (Next ESA SAR (synthetic aperture radar) Toolkit) framework on top of BEAM (used e.g. on Envisat image processing) has been released. There is also a list of free ESA software available, though not all open source.
2008-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot asks its readers on augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR) glasses, and links to Steve Mann's EyeTap camera/AR display in the process; in other news, Engadget and Wired report of new and stylish Vusix 2D AR glasses.
2008-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget, Slashdot and Yahoo News link to Yomiuri shinbun and Chunichi shinbun [jp] articles: An ATR research group from Kyoto, Japan has reconstructed letters that persons were thinking about, after calibrating them with 400 predetermined symbolic images while measuring brain activity. A Berkely group published a similar approach in Nature magazine.
2008-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget links to a Switched Magazine and a Guardian article on personal mini nuclear plant prototypes: 2 cube meters in size, generating unspecified power (claimed to be able to power 20.000 homes), meltdown proof, material unusable for weapons, fuel for 7 years. Maybe in production in 2013, at 25M EUR.
2008-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports of a walking assist device by Honda, essentially a bicycle saddle with two spider legs, which strengthen the legs of the wearer. Both for elderly people ("move") and factory workers who often work in a flexed position ("hold").
2008-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Using JNI (Java Native Interface) is not very comfortable. JNA is a library which maps Java interfaces to DLL calls using reflection: It does not require you to generate stub code. Should be way better and more flexible during development.
2008-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget and Slashdot link to a software proof of concept plus article on keyboard eavesdropping by way of interpreting the electromagnetic radiation from keyboards, created by LASEC Switzerland. Videos included.
2008-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Almost a year after the Fit-PC (a 500 Mhz, 512 MB RAM, passive cooled Mini-ITX ), Engadget and Linux Devices report of the fit-PC slim, now at 11x10x3 cm. Costs 300 EUR with 60 GB 2,5" HD and Ubuntu pre installed.
2008-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Every browser sends, with each HTTP request, a user-agent string which describes the browser you are using. This string (e.g. "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; sv-SE; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041108 Firefox/1.0") looks strange today, and this has a reason, which is explained by the entertaining Webaim blog.
2008-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Mathematicians and artists from Lyon University, France, have released a series of films in which they try to teach you how to visualize 4 dimensions in your head, as Slashdot and Science News report. It is as hard as thinking 3D for flat landers.
2008-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Good bluetooth keyboards for Mac OS are rare, so the diNovo Edge keyboard from Logitech is a valued addition: Short hub keys, a circular scroll pad, and built-in li-ion battery plus recharger. About 160 EUR.
2008-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Recently, I bought an XDA Diamond, originally known as HTC Touch Diamond. With a VGA display (finally!), GPS and Tomtom, it is quite nice, although Windows Mobile 6 seems slower than ever. If only the iPhone would have come with navigation.
2008-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a ABC news article about FAS Immune Attack, a 3D shooter/puzzler with the goal of keeping a human host alive. Good example for educational and fun games. Only available for Windows, though.
2008-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Bill Gates, godfather of Microsoft, retires. In his honor, Engadget lists his top ten hits (among them Windows 2000, Office, IE6) and misses (too numerous to mention). In any case, a man who participated in shaping how we live today.
2008-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports of an EEG helmet by Technical University of Braunschweig, used as an input device to control an RC car. It uses capacitive measurement to avoid direct head contact, so hair and other obstacles are allowed.
2008-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A car's skin may be cloth instead of metal - this is the philosophy if the GINA concept car by BMW, as Engadget, Slashdot, Top Gear and Wired report. Allows for eyelids (front lights), fins (doors) and mouth (engine hood). And it was already build in 2001, but secret then.
2008-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A good article in Wikipedia about Java Performance describes all the way from Java 1.2 to Java 6, starting with generational garbage collector (1.2) and JIT compiler (1.3), and ending with class data sharing (5), split bytecode verification and escape analysis for multithreading (6).
2008-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to a New Scientist article about the 50th anniversary of DARPA - with its most spectacular successes (internet, gps, stealth planes) and failures (telepathic spies, elephant mech, nuke propellant).
2008-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget links to a Textually article about piezo electric garments: When the wearer moves, electricity is generated and stored in a battery for further use. Shown at the 2nd skin show.
2008-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports of the Festo Airjelly [de], an airshop drone that looks and flies like a jellyfish (helium, li-ion batteries, using peristaltic movements on its eight arms), only it is in the air.
2008-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A summary article describing various means to make Java apps go native (Windows EXE being one of them). In unrelated news: One-JAR combines multiple jar files into one (in case you have another 20 WS-* libraries as dependency).
2008-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget and Gizmo Watch link to a New Scientist article about a computerised toothbrush for children: Armed with LEDs and a tracker, a screen shows which regions have been cleaned and which not.
2008-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Paul Graham (of Lisp fame) with a categorisation of disagreeing: From name calling, ad hominem through responding to tone, contradiction towards counterargument, refutation and finally refuting the central point.
2008-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
As one of the next general steps in the open source world, the Open Street Map [de] project aims to replace propietary maps (e.g. as in TomTom). Golem [de] and earth is square have some coverage (the latter about NASA Worldwind integration).
2008-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget and Heise [de] report of the OCZ Neural Impulse Actuator, another mind controlled input device like the Emotiv Epoc. Reads both muscle movement (brow, eyes) and EEG. Around 200 EUR and probably available end of year (announced: "next weeks").
2008-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Another mini-ITX contender: Engadget links to a Linux Devices article about the Linutop 2: AMD Geode LX800, 512 MB RAM, 1 GB flash (no HDD), Ethernet, 4 USB, 8 W power consumption in a 14x14x3.5 cm package. About 300 EUR and Ubuntu preloaded.
2008-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget links to Crave article reporting first-hand use of the Emotiv EPOC, a spider-like headset which is an input device based on neural input (which is recorded during calibration). Prototype with target Q1/2009 at 300 EUR.
2008-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
On the social side: Lifehacker links to two attempts to explain some geek aspects with the Nerd Handbook and the Caring for your Introvert article. Unrelated, but even more enlightening: Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains by IO9.
2008-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Lifehacker presents some unusal Google search terms: World wide time and currencies, related terms, music and comics, faces pictures.
2008-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Lifehacker links to a Howto Geek article explaining what the mysterious svchost.exe in the Windows task manager list is: A launcher for functionality that is stored in different DLLs. Each svchost instance groups some of these services.
2008-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to a CNet article taking on the question what an Open Source company is monetarily worth. Short answer: Revenue of last year x 15, just like any other company.
2008-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
I have a new 13" notebook, a Sony Vaio SZ6. 1280x800, 2Ghz Core Duo, 2GB RAM, Nvidia 8400M GS. After pondering Debian, I decided to go for Ubuntu. The verdict: Good working condition, many minor quirks, and a quiet but always running processor fan.
2008-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Endgadget, Slashdot and uweek report of contact lenses with LEDs and circuits on it, enabling processing and display. Far better than AR (augmented reality) goggles. Made by University of Washington (USA).
2008-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Lifehacker links to FOSSwire articles about programs to graphically show your hard disk usage. While JDiskReport works under all OS's, Baobab (Gnome) and Filelight (KDE) may also be good choices.
2008-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Both Slashdot and Engadget point to a Linux Devices article about a Linux portable video player -- with glasses that work as head mounted display (no AR, though). OLED and 800x600 resolution.
2008-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Mongrel programmer Zed Shaw rants about proper statistics in load testing, placing particular importance on recording standard deviation, which Apache JMeter does not, but e.g. the R project does.
2007-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget points to a Bit Tech review of the Novint Falcon, an unlikely input device: Three arms hold a small ball for the user to grip, allowing 3D movement. The arms can shake (force feedback) in various ways, conveying the sensation of texture. Halflife 2 mod and various mini games provided. About 200 EUR. Cross-platform drivers (libnifalcon) in alpha stage.
2007-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a New York Times interview with Bruce Schneier (computer security expert), in which he answers questions from readers: That security breaches are mostly an economic, profit-oriented problem, that wherever trust is, a breach is possible, and other interesting items.
2007-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The DARPA exoskeleton is now in prototype stage; Engadget points to a Wired video of a Sarcos employee walking around and lifting things with it. The added strength could be used for heavy armor. New Scientist also has coverage.
2007-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Lifehacker and From Where I Sit link to the "Death by Powerpoint" slideshow by Alexei Kapterev; other presentation related sites are Presentation Zen and Beyond Bullets.
2007-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot, Engadget and NY Times report of robotic cockroaches which mix into a group of real cockroaches and are able to influence the group's behaviour by peer pressure.
2007-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
As Slashdot, Engadget and others report, the Android SDK (a software platform backed by many handy manufacturers, instead of the gPhone) has been released for Windows, Linux and MacOS. Programmed with Java (including Eclipse plugin), run on a specialised VM, emulator available, good hardware (WiFi, BT, GPS) abstraction (unlike today's phones). Actual hardware probably in Q3/2008.
2007-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget points to a Motor Authority article on a paramagnetic car paint, which allows a car to change its colors by applying differing amounts of electrical current. Prototype currently being developed by Nissan.
2007-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget points to a Linux Devices article on the elegant Manuscriptum Mini PC, made by german company Manufactum [de]. AMD Geode 500 MHz, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB HD, 2 ethernet, 4 USB. About 500 EUR and taking 12W on average. Comes with Debian pre-installed.
2007-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports of the Rok It Science "Boom 2 Borda" skateboard with an electric motor, accelerating up to 40 km/h and lasting for 40 km. Weight: 18 kg. Cost: about 800 EUR. In other news: Gizmodo reports of the GroundSurf prototype skateboard.
2007-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to an Extreme Tech review of the very small FIT PC: AMD Geode 500 Mhz, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB HD, two USB, two ethernet (specs). Takes 5W power on average. Cost: around 250 EUR.
2007-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Ubergizmo reports of, and Slashdot points to a New Scientist article about a lucid touch PDA prototype, in which a touchscreen on the back of the device takes 8 fingers as multitouch input, simultaneously showing your fingertips as cursors on the front screen.
2007-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a Technology Review article about the first self tuning guitars from Gibson reaching production. Pressing a button on the guitar will re-tune it. Engadget also has coverage.
2007-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget points to a Lets Go Digital article about an transparent electroluminescent (glass) display with VGA resolution, made by Planar.
2007-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Gizmodo reports of a H.R. Giger like block with a robotic face, which can shape into various pre-recorded forms. Prototyped by Waseda University.
2007-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to a New Scientist article about a headband which represents radar input to the wearer with the help of haptic feedback. Prototype by Tokyo University and planned e.g. for construction workers.
2007-19 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
ASM is a library allowing modifications to compiled Java bytecode, working on top of cglib. It can e.g. be used to write a simple package dependency checker, like a friend of mine did with JLayerCheck (Eclipse plugin available). In unrelated news: A good article about Dependency Injection from Martin Fowler.
2007-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget has its art month, reporting of an interactive mirror which mimicks you, and unrelated the russian ASCII VR goggles which turn the world around you to ASCII art.
2007-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
If you are into the aesthetics of data or information, the Infosthetics, Visual Complexity, Wolfram Demo or Simile site may be interesting to you. Also very aesthetic: the Earth Guide.
2007-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a Techno Velgy article on the progress on introspecting robots, this time a starfish robot which learns to walk by itself.
2007-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
I got trapped again in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (SMAC) when I installed it (just for completeness) on my 5 year old Toshiba Satellite 2410 notebook. And this time, I finally wrote the strategy guide I had planned to write for years.
2007-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Discovered a game for 10-finger writers: Words are sliding over the screen and you have to type them before they vanish. Hell fun. In unrelated news: Learning programs Ghemical (chemistry), Stellarium (astronomy), GeoGebra (geometry), GeoNext (math) and Math4u2 (de, math) may be good for you.
2007-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The digitial dutch has a nice unit converting website for all you will probably ever need. Also, if you are a Java developer, it might be worth looking at JScience library and the corresponding JSR 275.
2007-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports of the Sony Rolly prototype, a football shaped, rolling, ear flapping, music playing something. Video included. Engadget also has more coverage.
2007-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports of an experiment which induces an out-of-body experience (OOBE) by means of virtual reality, by disturbing the sense combination that leads to our aggregated image of self. Two university groups, at Lausanne (Switzerland) and London, accomplished this effect. Not Exactly Rocket Science and BBC also have coverage.
2007-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot and Engadget report of the robotic arm of german company Festo, which uses air filled "muscle strands", controlling movement by very precise pressure.
2007-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Space daily copies a PhysOrg article about a 3D display resembling a pyramid upside down, consisting mostly of mirrors, which reflect the pixels at the right 3D location. Developed by Hitachi Advanced Research Lab under Rieko Otsuka (jp only). Golem (de only) also has coverage.
2007-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
If you just want to test a regular expression quickly, this web page may be for you. In related news: Eclipse plugin QuickREx does the same, plus converting regexp into Java strings.
2007-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Lifehacker points to a low-cost (100 EUR) fanless computer, the decTop by Data Evolution. With 366 Mhz, 128 Mb RAM, and 10 Gb HDD, it seems like an option for a Linux router box (Ubuntu installation described by JSCO).
2007-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget points to a Yanko Design article about the UNI concept of stackable computer parts, each drawing all connectors and power supply from the next part; designed by Richard Choi.
2007-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Windows builtin tools (editor, taskmanager, etc) are lightweight but not powerful. Freeware applications having both virtues are listed in a Life Hacker article.
2007-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Gizmodo provides a good look at russian industrial design in a gallery of unusual aircrafts, mostly jetfighters but also transport crafts.
2007-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
More than ordinary clothing, the transformer jacket made by german designer Alice Kaiserswerth can be folded into a shoulder bag, as GizModo reports. Also from the transformers section: The sofa/bunk bed transformer.
2007-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Artima discusses why singletons are dangerous, complemented by a Steve Yegge article, and pointing to the Google Singleton Detector.
2007-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An UFO-like hovercraft developed by Moller Industries and driven by 6 rotary engines, reaching up to 80 km/h, has flown successfully, as Engadget reports. Moller transportation vehicles (see also the Skycar) have a tendency to be "available soon".
2007-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot comes with a short roundup of 2007's state of the art Linux virtualisation options: Xen, lguest and KVM.
2007-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
For a screen in front of your eye, the monocle built by japanese company Shimadzu (JP only) can also do, as I4U and Gizmodo report. Resolution at 800x600 and not translucent, so no augmented reality use.
2007-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A robotic fly measuring 3cm and 60mg has taken flight at Harvard University, as Engadget and Technology Review report. No onboard controller, steering, battery or payload at this point of time.
2007-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The first bionic hand which can apply pressure sensibly has been brought to the market by Scottish company Touch Bionics, as BBC and Slashdot report.
2007-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Lifehacker points to Wiki Mindmap, where you can browse any Wikipedia article like a mindmap, which gives a better overview and makes following links easier.
2007-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget points out that the Open Moko Linux smartphone is finally on sale. 300 EUR gets you a VGA screen, GPS, Bluetooth, but no WiFi (planned for next version).
2007-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Fraunhofer institute has prototyped a robotic arm with two muscle strains intertwined into a helix, which is inspired by the way elephant trunks work and should enable fine motor control. Engadget reports.
2007-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The SA800 from MiniPC (JP only) is not only small, but can be stacked with external components (floppy, DVD), as Engadget reports from the Akihabara News.
2007-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Always wanted to know where the ESA (European Space Agency) earth orbiting satellites are? ESA recently unveiled a tracker for everyone on Flash basis.
2007-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
In a new robotic finger twist, japanese company Squse (JP only) has prototyped a robotic hand controlled by air pressure, such that very fragile objects can be gripped with ease, as Space Daily and Engadget report.
2007-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget points to a Businessweek article about the raydiance laser prototype, which uses very short bursts to achieve vaporisation effects without generating much heat.
2007-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The Microsoft Surface is a desk with some cameras and a beamer from beneath. Coupled with appropriate drivers and software, it could recognize phones, cameras, and other devices and let users draw data around the desk. Also doubles as coffee table with built-in menu, as Slashdot, Engadget and Gizmodo report.
2007-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Another invention costing an elderly guy 8 years, the "slidingly engaging fastener" (the inventor refuses to choose a catchier name) is the better velcro, as Popular Science reports.
2007-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
After being eternally frustrated by the noise an arrow would make leaving the bow when clashing briefly against the arrow rest, one guy spent 6 years refining a magnetic ring that keeps the arrow levitating, as Popular Science reports.
2007-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A simpler version of Augmented Reality (AR) glasses, developed by Madrid University, could be used to display subtitles in cinemas (foreigners; hard of hearing), as Engadget reports.
2007-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports of the Saitek Obsidian Mouse; somewhat similar to the wireless Apple Mighty Mouse, it is smooth and has a four-way touch scroll.
2007-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot and Engadget point to a story of a small UAV of hexagonal shape, in which a british inventor combines principles of a hovercraft and a helicopter.
2007-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Organic, photosynthesis mimicking solar cells could be a possible alternative to normal solar cells, according to a New Zealand university, as both Engadget and Slashdot report.
2007-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
For all website owners: whos.amung.us keeps track of the active users on your website if you embed a counter link on your pages. Basic Thinking (german) describes it.
2007-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Koji Kondo is the music composer of Super Mario Bros, Zelda, and many more Nintendo games, and as such embedded into the brains of a whole generation. Wired has an article about him, and there is a video of him playing the Super Mario Bros theme on a piano.
2007-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Spreeblick (Berlin newspaper; german only) explains Web 2.0 for everyone; as usual, their uncanny satirical abilities strike.
2007-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Wired writes about a professional runner, who had both lower legs amputated as a baby and now runs on artifical legs manufactured by Ossur, Iceland; already the fasted handicapped runner in the world, now strives to beat normal runners.
2007-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget links to a GizMag article describing a brain/computer input device in the form of an electrode helmet; the game Pong is supplied as proof of concept. Letters are selected by "control signals", somewhat slowly still.
2007-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Lifehacker points to an OpenID demonstration by Simon Willison; OpenID being a distributed mechanism for internet IDs which can be re-used by multiple websites, who do not need to worry about identification by themselves then. One example provider is MyOpenID.
2007-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget points to a SlashGear article about the DepthX Submarine Robot, which can autonomously dive to 100m, go into caves, build a 3D map and take samples using a robotic arm. Popular Science also has coverage.
2007-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget points to a Teleread article about the rollable display by Philips spinoff Polymer Vision which is finally reaching production. As E-Ink device, it is relatively energy friendly. First screen will be 12cm of size and built into the Cellular Book PDA; the next application is the Readius PDA, as reported by Slashdot, Engadget and CNet.
2007-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A female Marine who lost her arm finally has a bionic replacement, as reported by the Telegraph and Engadget. It controls all fingers and provides a limited sense of touch, with cabling attached to a nerve patch on her chest.
2007-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
After Mini ITX, there is Pico ITX, measuring just 10x7.2 cm, with a VIA board coming with a 1 Ghz processor. Slashdot points to a Linux Devices article, with additional coverage by XYZ Computing and the EPIA Center.
2007-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a Hamilton Spectator article about Troy Hurtubise, inventor of the bear suit designed to survive contact with a grizzly; now also in a military version. Bullet, knife, and 150 kg log proof. Improbable Research also has coverage.
2007-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to the Fab@Home project: In essence a glue printer which prints multiple layers, hereby creating 3D shapes. New Scientist reports of the Cornell University device and an earlier Bath University device.
2007-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
There are strange materials in existence, and Slashdot links to a New Scientist article on five of them, including fluids that become solid when stressed, and foam that becomes thicker when expanded.
2007-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The D programming language is meant as a successor to C++ with some of the goodness of modern (Java, Ruby) languages while retaining the nativeness and speed of the former. In related news: Fortress, currently developed successor to Fortran, with renewed focus on parallel code execution.
2007-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
More Mini ITX: Engadget links to a Reg Hardware article about the Shuttle XPC X200, a small form factor Core 2 Duo PC at about 1000 EUR.
2006-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Electronic music in a nutshell: A guy named Ishkur provides a Flash application which shows a very extensive list of electronic music styles and connects them. In unrelated news: Misheard lyrics can be fun.
2006-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Wired News summarises the current state in methods of improving your body: With surgery, dietary supplements, training regimen and better baby cultivation.
2006-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Lifehacker links to the Linux Equivalent project, which wants to help Windows to Linux switchers with offering linux software comparable to what they used before in Windows. Good effort.
2006-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to a Live Science article on levitation by ultrasound, this time performed on small animals. Former tries included foam and other light materials (video).
2006-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Lifehacker links to the Google Tech Talks, regularly scheduled presentations on a very wide variety of subjects by Googlers. Probably pretty smart.
2006-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a Science Now article about a robot which builds and evolves models of itself to optimize movements; and modifies the model in case one of it legs is damaged (similar to what humans are doing).
2006-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Philosophy in german: Gunther Dueck, IBM Technology Chief of Germany, apparently spent much time extending the Keirsey (of "Understand Me" fame) personality test (which tests you either being a "rule based" or "creativity based" human) by introducing a third kind, the "instinctive based" human.
2006-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Linux Devices reports of the OpenMoko Linux smartphone with GPS included; Cellphone Beat also has coverage. Available January 2007.
2006-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Finally a electrically powered car that is fun to drive. The Tesla Roadster can go to 200 km/h, accelerates in 4 seconds to 100 km/h, and needs only 2 gears because torque distribution is far better than with gasoline motors. Howstuffworks and Wired News have coverage. I want this car.
2006-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Hardware virtualization of OSes in the next generation Intel and AMD chips open new possibilities for viruses to pose as super-VM rootkit, as eWeek (via Slashdot) shows by interviewing Joanna Rutkowska, author of the Blue Pill demo (which is detectable, though).
2006-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports about the Gumstix mini PC, without harddrive and at 400 Mhz but completely passive cooled and in the 10cm range. Another possibility might be the Blackdog.
2006-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a Physics Buzz article about a robot hand at the range of 1 mm. Research paper at Scitation.
2006-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot reports of the Teddy 3D Drawing Applet by Tokyo University. You paint on a 2D surface, the software guesses which 3D form you meant, and you can subsequently rotate the shape to add other forms. Instruction video available.
2006-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Recently bought a Mighty Mouse from Apple. Very elegant, and mostly usable except for the right button click, which sucks for left hand mousers. Consequently, I am torn between the Paul Stamatiou review and the short review from Mezzo Blue.
2006-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Wired reports of the most successful game for the Nintendo DS to date - its a cookbook. One that reads 200 recipes, and goes back and forth according to your voice commands. At last, a very cool practical application.
2006-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to an Engadget article about the Skywalker Jetpack, which has the rockets fixed to the sides of the wearer, such that the back does not get toasted.
2006-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot again, this time about a snake-inspired robot which houses water, firefighting equipment, and can go in crashed houses where humans cannot.
2006-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
As Slashdot reports, Hacktivismo has released the instant messenger ScatterChat, which is basically GAIM with encryption. Good thing.
2006-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
There is more than electrodes strapped on the head. Using invasive surgery to wire electrodes directly into the brain, a man can steer a robot arm, according to New Scientist and Slashdot. A similar procedure has been tried before on insects, which subsequently played the ghosts in PacMan (LiveScience).
2006-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Popular Science with an article about the Hyanide concept motorbike with tank wheels for any terrain. Currently, only a model exists, made by some german guys for an automobile exhibition.
2006-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a Wired article about a primitive cybernetic implant: A tiny magnetic dot in the fingertip allows to sense electric and magnetic fields as a tingling sensation.
2006-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a Daily Mail article about a wing set for (military) parachutists named Gryphon, produced by german company ESG, which allows to fly greater distances during freefall phase. Coolest Gadgets also has a bit of coverage.
2006-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a New Scientist article about an european tiny robot that wriggles through rough terrain, e.g. human intestines, in a movement taken from worms.
2006-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Aharef (= a href) provides an HTML graph applet which builds a beautiful tree from the HTML elements of any given website.
2006-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to a Yahoo article about a mentally (MRI) controlled robot hand by Honda. Has 5 seconds delay, though, and Stephen Hawking has a better one.
2006-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to a New Scientiest article on a robotic elephant trunk prototype capable of grappling a wide range of objects. Somewhat misleadingly, they call it "tentacle".
2006-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to an Howto Forge article about monitoring your Linux box. Suited for Debian.
2006-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to an EETimes article about AR glasses from Mirage, which use only one video source to eliminate the nausea commonly caused when the two screens do not conform to your head movement. ZDnet has also coverage.
2006-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to an SFGate article about some guy with too much time which retrofitted his VW Beetle with a jet turbine in the back. Videos of stand firing, but no race unfortunately.
2006-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Fosfor magazine with a list of 10 outstanding keyboards. Includes some options for the handicapped, but also for RSI struck people. The list misses the multitouch input devices.
2006-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Found a nice article explaining some of the issues around using an object oriented database (management system) instead of a relational one. For me, it boils down to: No external data control.
2006-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Popular Science reports of a tiny helicopter (3.3 grams) with two stacked rotors which counterbalance themselves. Norwegian invention.
2006-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
I have rarely been impressed more by displays of physical ability. Some russian extreme artists / street guys run and climb deserted city scenarios with supreme style in this video. The technique is called "Parkour" and explained e.g. at howstuffworks.
2006-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a short New Scientist blurb about a small, six-legged tree-climbing robot, which looks like a crab. Fitted with glue, it is planned to climb smooth surfaces in the future.
2006-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
PopSci reports about the Cormoran, a US Navy project to create an airborne attack drone that can start underwater, using the torpedo tubes of submarines as runway.
2006-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A good personal account of PostgreSQL vs. MySQL, although biased in favour of PostgreSQL. Nonetheless, the personal experiences provided here are insightful.
2006-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A good article about the importance of journaling filesystems, including a look at Apple HFS, Linux ext3, ReiserFS, XFS, and Windows NTFS.
2006-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a New Scientist article describing the development of flexible materials that harden on impact, ideal as replacement for the bulky shin protectors of todays sports. Not flexible enough for joints, though.
2006-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
SQL Schemaball is a perl application which takes an SQL file and visualises the associations between the tables (foreign keys) in a nice ball. Interesting idea.
2006-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Found a good web interface for services such as whois, traceroute, ping, nslookup. Good when not being at my own computer.
2006-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
As a last resort for RSI (repetitive strain injury) damaged people, Slashdot points to the datahand keybard, which leaves your hands in specifically shaped moulds. At about 500 EUR, no cheap pick, though.
2006-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A japanese comedy group parodies the orthodox way to eat in a sushi-ya, or Sushi shop / restaurant. Of course all of it is bogus, but uncannily they manage to bring it over as real.
2006-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Engadget reports of a Fabric Keyboard from Eleksen for any PDA, which can be rolled together. Used per bluetooth and powered by AAA batteries in a handle on the left side.
2005-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Victoria Livschitz of Sun is at it again. Her recent thoughts on a programming language that is distributed while not knowing it (draft name: Metaphors), which would postpone the complexity horizon of software once more, are a fine read.
2005-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to an Open Source Energy article about a prototype of a floating platform carrying wind energy converters (i.e. windmills). It could be deployed far out in the ocean where more wind exists.
2005-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Space daily reports of the currently fastest electric car on this planet: An eight-wheeled prototype going 370 km/h by Keio University in Tokyo, Japan.
2005-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
All you need to know about the Sonoma (915PM/GM) notebook chipset is condensed in this (german) Toms Hardware article. Highlights: PCI express graphics takes 5W more power, and the Intel GMA is almost as fast as an Nvidia 6200 Go or an ATI X300.
2005-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to an Ars Technica article about audio editing tools on Linux. Good to see some progress there, although it has been a long time for me since I have last used FastTracker.
2005-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a PhoneMag article about this years concept prototypes of mobile phones. A bit useless, but cool nonetheless.
2005-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
I bought an iMac last week. Nice toy, although the whole iLife suite is utterly incompatible with the foldered way in which I store my data. Linux functionality with Fink is uncomfortable, but ok. There is a Java 5.0, and Eclipse runs great. For hardware upgrades, there are infos on surround sound and RAM upgrades.
2005-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
At last, a GPL replacement for DriveCrypt and others. It allows you to mount an encrypted container file as a virtual drive under Windows. Very practical for your sensitive data on your notebook.
2005-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a MSNBC article about a japanese company (curiously named Cyberdyne) developing an assistive robot suit for the elderly, similar to the DARPA exoskeleton efforts.
2005-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a PDF file of an ApacheCon presentation title "Why I hate Apache Webserver". As a long-time Apache user, I had so much fun reading this.
2005-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The coolest UI trick I have seen for years: Simply folding windows away while you are doing a drag n drop. Java Demo included. Way cool.
2005-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Tired of powerpoint presentations on the web, a guy named Eric Meyer developed S5, which uses XHTML, CSS and JavaScript to display a Powerpoint-like presentation in your browser which goes with the windows size. Not likely to be liked by your manager, but by you.
2005-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a Make magazine article which examines a self heating coffee mug in detail and from the inside. Lots of fotos.
2005-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An overview of how video game controllers evolved, in the form of a family tree. Nice.
2005-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Howstuffworks points to a SciToys article about building your own gauss rifle experiment just using a ruler, 4 strong magnets, 9 metal balls and duct tape.
2005-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
I bought a new notebook with a 1400x1050 screen, Nvidia Go 6200 and a lot of other gimmicks at Mediamarkt and tried to install Debian: Ubuntu, Knoppix, and classic Debian. After 10 days of testing, the result: It sucks. Will be returned to dealer.
2005-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a XZY Computing article about the Pistol Mouse - a regular mouse, only shaped like a pistol. The authors think that it is comfortable, at least.
2005-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Think your computer is too loud? How about sinking the whole motherboard including fans (only excluding HD) in oil? I only wonder about changing a PCI card or the processor.
2005-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A car that is a safe and looks like it. Complete metal armor, window shutters (windows cannot be opened), perfect for your US urban ghetto zone.
2005-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Windows 2000 and XP have builtin NTP (use net time /set on command line), but this one is more comfortable. And freeware.
2005-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A program to analyse your file server (or home machine) disk usage, freeware and for all platforms that support Java: JDiskReport.
2005-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
At last, I have found the perfect replacement for the odd Windows notepad: Notepad2. It is small and fast and does everything the notepad should have done for all those years. And it is freeware. The world is good.
2005-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a BBC article about a prototype from the IBM labs: A mouse adapter for people with hand tremor. I will be the first lucky CS playing grandpa.
2005-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Spacedaily reports about the advancements in Israeli micro drone technology. Some weigh just 500 grams, others are armed and a bit heavier.
2005-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to an ExtremeTech article about the Countour Rollerbar Mouse. Basically a fixed rolling stick laid just in front of your keyboard, it is controlled by the thumb and replaces your mouse. Need to try that.
2005-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a Live Science article on robots that walk like humans - energy saving in that they only lift their feet but then let them drop with gravity help only. Normally, robots need to power the whole way.
2005-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to Engadget and ExtremeTech articles about a new form of e-paper by NTera. Main advantage is unprecedented contrast (normally a major weakness) and the ability to hold an image without using power. Disadvantage is that changing image costs more than in an LCD.
2005-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to the first understandable review of the new Cell Processor Architecture by IBM. Basically it means to move 8 or more (cell) processors within the processor. True parallelism on a chip. Part 2 of the article also available.
2005-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Live Linux CDs, another roundup. Slashdot points to OSNews who have a (short) roundup on 18 Linux live CDs.
2005-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The Japanese are at it again. Slashdot reports about the HRP, a robot designed to mimick human movement as closely as possible. The novel use is the preservation of ancient japanese dance, using motion trackers to record from a real dance master and the robot for playback.
2005-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a Scotsman report about the Vision Robot from the Sansokan group. At about 40 cm height, bipedal and with 360 vision, this will be a player of the next RoboCup.
2005-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Wired comes with its annual Vaporware awards: A celebration of all the great announced products that somehow failed to materialize. Lifetime Award: Duke Nukem (waiting) Forever.
2005-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to an OnRobo article about the Robo Sapiens V2, capable of normal movement of all limbs, recognizing skin tone, and a voice for conversation (and a remote control should the autonomy fail, of course).
2004-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a gizmodo article about walker robots by Toyota - one I-Unit with wheels and one I-Foot with feet. Essentially they are super wheelchairs. Toyota has a show website. Show is due 2005-03.
2004-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Replacing models with virtual counterparts has been an idea for a long time - now is the time to crown the Miss World (Digital) each year. This years winner is south american "Katty Ko" by Flavio Parra from Chile.
2004-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot reports of Helix, a Knoppix based Linux boot CD specially made for computer forensics. Also suitable for windows.
2004-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot again with a User Instinct article about 5 key points of good UI design: The user wants task done, not use your application; bigger buttons for more important functions; minimise dialog usage; more computer aid; maximum of 5 options at one time.
2004-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot reports of the JVC Everio, a camcorder with (micro = CF sized) harddisk instead of tape or solid state memory. Drawbacks: No MAC support, and no viewfinder. This is the next step after SD card camcorders like the Sanyo 4MP.
2004-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a BBC article describing the use of augmented reality to enhance archeological sites with images of buildings, people and surroundings of what could once have been.
2004-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a (very short) PhysOrg article showing a new wearable display from Mitsubishi. Display is in lower sight area so it does not obstruct your field of vision.
2004-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to an IEEE spectrum article on radioactive batteries. Using low energy elements like nickel-63 or tritium which go only 25 mikrometer deep in most materials, such batteries could power or recharge low-power devices for months and years.
2004-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot links to an TRN Magazine article on University of Tokyo scientists producing touch-sensible robot skin with a resolution of 16 sensors per cm2 (human finger: 1500 per cm2); the skin is fully bendable. More details on Radio Blog.
2004-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Finally, the O2 XDA III has its first official review by Mobile Review. Also known as HTC Blue Angel, Qtek 9090, or MDA III, its prime new features are a slide-in keyboard and 802.11b WLAN. Added to the VGA camera und Bluetooth already present in the XDA II, this makes a nice smart phone.
2004-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a TRN magazine article describing a solution for walking in virtual reality worlds: Shifting tiles that move under your feet in the opposite direction you are walking. Developed by the University of Tsukuba, Japan.
2004-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Wired reports about onion routing with TOR, similar to JAP (Java Anonymizer Proxy). Nodes on the network know only predecessor and successor of a packet (and the target of the packet, of course). Given at least one uncompromised node, the source of the packet can not be identified.
2004-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot points to a Metropolis Magazine article about PV-TV, transparent solar panels produced by japanese company MSK. Perfectfor "glass tower" buildings, they do not spoil the view and allow up to 10% lucidity. Energy production is 38 watt per square meter.
2004-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot reports that the AlphaGrip controller is ready to be manufactured. It has 42 keys and a analog joystick, and should be able to replace a keyboard. Personally, I have my doubts there.
2004-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot reports that JAXA (Japanese Space Agency) has successfully deployed solar sails in space for the first time in human history. Whether they actually fly is still unclear, though. Onboard camera images at bottom of article.
2004-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
DefenseLink reports about the "Agenda 2010" and 2020 of american combat suits. While the focus is first on networking the soldier with the rest of the armed forces, including headup display and voice control, the 2020 version is planned to enclude self-healing capabilities and strength enhancements.
2004-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
It is summer time, and Mainichi Shinbun presents the wackiest of japanese ice cream: Among my favourites flavours are fish, ox tongue, fried eggplant and wasabi aisukurimu.
2004-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
From the "fun with music" department: A jukebox that lets you assemble various parts of indian music to form your very own tune. Fascinating.
2004-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Spacedaily with more UAV (unmanned air vehicle) news: The radio controlled variety is on the rise. This IUAS weights just 5kg and comes with a flexible rack to allow anything from sensors to weapons to be loaded.
2004-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot with an article about port knocking on the rise. Port knocking allows you access to a service (e.g. SSH) only if you made requests to other, predefined ports within a specific timewindow before. In the fwknop (FIrewall KNock OPerator) implementation, presented at Defcon 12, it is combined with passive OS fingerprinting such that a connect requires the right port knocking sequence AND the right OS.
2004-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot with an article against SQL, and even more so, XQuery. From a software technology view, both are flawed, the latter even more so. If they only were not so easy and practical. A reference to the Horrors of XML article (to which I agree) is also given.
2004-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
France Telecom had a little fun in their R&D labs and made T-Shirts that display your cell phones display content. Resolution could be better, but: Groovy.
2004-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Howstuffwork reports aboud the Volvo YCC - designed by an all female team, the Your Concept Car brings a number of practical improvements that elude the male mind.
2004-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot reports about the next step in camouflage, made by the University of Tokyo: The cloak is a flexible screen and shows what cameras behind the wearer record.
2004-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Slashdot and PC World both report about the new 3D display from Sharp. The news is: No goggles anymore. And it seems to be ready for notebooks.
2004-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Randall Hyde of Art of Assembly fame details why he thinks people should learn assembly even today - to learn about the machine behind all the abstract programming. Having learned assembler myself, I wholeheartedly agree.
2004-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The OQO is a basically a very small tablet PC (not even double the size of a PDA) with a 840x480 display, with a Transmeta Crusoe 1 Ghz CPU, 256 MB RAM, Bluetooth, and WLAN b. Ships this fall for about EUR 1500. I am not very sure that it is worth the price, considering small form factor notebooks like the ones from Toshiba.
2004-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The Proba micro satellite is an (already deployed) ESA probe the size of a small washing machine, designed to take multispectrum images of spots on the earth. It is designed for maximum autonomy, using GPS and star constellations to determine position. Spacedaily brings this introductory article.
2004-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Kernelthread brings an article about 10 things Apple did to make MacOS faster (or to appear faster, that is). Those principles could also easily be applied to other operating systems.
2004-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Adapting open source software in companies causes costs and hassle. This article by ACM examines the steps needed for a successful deploy. An excellent read for managers, at the very least.
2004-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Wired crowns the top 40 innovating companies of the year. Somewhat subjective, but still a nice overview.
2004-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Yahoo brings an article about the waste-to-oil production company RES (renewable environmental resources), who have now started selling their oil. Impressive environmental tech.
2004-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Space Daily with an article about a new 3D Monitor prototype from Philips. Instead of concentrating on 2 images (one for each eye), the display forks 9 different viewing angles such that one can view an image from 9 angles; this also makes it suitable for multiple viewers. I am not convinced that it looks sharp, though.
2004-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Wired brings an article about the next generation wings of aircrafts -- which are able to flap like a bird. Early experimenters try it with polymers the deform or with scales that slide above each other.
2004-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
At 8 hours on a table PC, the Li-S (lithium sulfur) batters of Sion Power company is four times longer lasting than Li-Ion batteries now, all this at a better power/weight ratio. Drawbacks: Only 300 recharges, and Li-S is at half the efficiency of polymer electroliyte fuel cells.
2004-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Popular Science has an article about the newly planned US superweapons -- including electromagnetic railguns, space darts, superfast torpedos, laser cannons, and guns that fire a million rounds per minute.
2004-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Popular Science magazine with some of the big projects of our time: The underwater vacuum maglev train, the space elevator, and other cool but as-of-now pretty unprobable projects.
2004-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Pretty pictures of a PC case modded after a Half Life 2 (= "rotten") theme. Quite extensive work. My kudos.
2004-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
As usual in consumer microtechnology Japan is three steps ahead. Sharp brings (exclusively for Japan, the suckers) two mobile phones with 2x optical zoom, TV tuner and other goodies.
2004-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Lightweight and encrypted shared folder, messages, and screen export over the intranet. For free during the beta testing period.
2004-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Self esteem is one of our most uncontrollable, reflexive thought process. But like all reflexes, it can be influenced easily. These games, produced by canadian psychologists, are supposed to help your self esteem up, by picking the only smiling face in a crowd (= ignore unfriendliness) or associating your birthday with a smile.
2004-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Whenever an accident occurs, it takes some times until human operators have set up traffic cones to lead the traffic around it - resulting in jams and lost time. So why not let robots do it?
2004-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Popular Science with an article about a new kind of monowheel - 1 meter wheel, motorized, with seat on the front. Seat scratches ground when breaking hard.
2004-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Civil airplanes are always subsonic - mostly because the sonic boom upon entry would be too loud for intercontinental flights. Now NASA/Dryden have tested an F5-E with a "nose job" to shape the air more favourable for lower sound volume. This blog has more details.
2004-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Topix.net speculates about Google and their infrastructure, while observing which kind of people work at google. At least hotswap and a cluster filesystem belong to the assets of Google, it seems.
2004-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Eugene Eric Kim from Blue Oxen thinks our open source tools need to get more interoperable, and muses about our (software) environmental aspects of developing such tools. Personally though, I think he does not grasp that open source is about wild growth.
2004-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
After ruggedized notebooks (retrofitted such to endure extreme conditions like heat, cold, dust), now we got rugged PDAs.
2004-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Belarc brings a free (for personal use) tool for finding out everything you want about your computer. It displays the result in a web browser. Of course there are a myriad of tools like this..
2004-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
They are not dying: Independant games, without big budgets behind them. Gamespot reports of this years final 10 contestants.
2004-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Haaretz reports of IAIs (Israel Aircraft Industries) new "Mosquito" drone series; small enough to fly thru a window, equipped with camera and at a mere 33 cm wingspan. Essentially a better RC toy than we ever had.
2004-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
After a lot of hype, the Simputer (an affordable PDA for India) has arrived. Most impressive among the little innovations: Motion sensors that let you flip pages with a flick of the wrist and zoom in an out when you move the PDA closer/farther from you.
2004-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A short report about 3Dconnexion, a Logitech spinoff dedicated to invent "secondary mouses" such that 3D designers (and others) can work with both hands simultaneously.
2004-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The counterpoint to proprietary BIOSes is finally getting market acceptance: The Linux BIOS. Even though being GPL, many contractors nowadays require a BIOS which they have total control of - this giving the board manufacturers the incentive to give in to Linux BIOS.
2004-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
BBC presents some of the nice things of the Cebit 2004 in Hannover. Among them: The nano ITX board (12x12 cm), and the laser keyboard for palmtops that was already promised for 3 consecutive years.
2004-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Here it comes - the fault tolerant shell. Normally, when you write a shell script and one of the command within it fails, the whole script is done for. Not with the FTS, which offers breakpoints to get out of it.
2004-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
So statistics can be good for something at last. This nice graphic displays both absolute and percentual (to lines of code) number of swear words over the evolving Linux kernel.
2004-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Online registration (e.g. NY Times) sucks. The BugMeNot.com group has vowed to end this nonsense and gives everyone the opportunity to participate in non-registering.
2004-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A short article on Sun explaining the major improvements in the upcoming JDK 1.5, nickname "tiger". I see it with mixed feeling, some things are definitely overdue, like the enhanced for loop, others questionable, like the variable argument numbers.
2004-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Sun interviews its own employee Victoria Lipschitz, former Lithunian chess champion and senior IT architect, about the fundamental errors in how we see programming, and what can be done to be able to program more intuitively.
2004-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Wired has a good streak these days. Reports about BLEEX, an University of Berkeley designed Exeskeleton prototype for back and legs which is designed to carry several hundred kilograms for hours while feeling like 5 kgs to the wearer. 40 sensors translate the users natural movement into exoskeleton movement.
2004-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Wired has an article about the current state of EAP, electroactive polymers that contract when electricity is applied. Possible uses range from stealthy underwater drones to medical drug delivery.
2004-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Asahi Shinbun reports of a new japanese guardian robot. Fearing patent issues with Sony had he formed it like a dog, the creator choose the dragon form.
2004-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Linux live CDs, that is CDs which can boot a Linux, are gaining more and more popularity - with Knoppix the best known at least in Germany. Someone finally made the effort to list at least many of them.
2004-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Popular Science reviews 10 really superfluous but cool USB toys: From the hand massager to the USB stick with biometric security.
2004-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
World of ends only article so far treats 10 common myths about what the internet is not, but is perceived to be. Still interesting even if you think to be in the know.
2004-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Popular Science magazin with a short blurb about the cell phone / PDA combination O2 XDA. Interesting mostly because I own one and, in contrast to the blurbs author, am quite satisfied by it. Meanwhile the XDA II is out, but too expensive yet.
2004-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Making your serve more secure with port knocking. Given e.g. an SSH access, it would open only after a certain sequence of (closed) ports was knocked on, i.e. your SSH port only opens if you do a 1243, 4325, 6345, 4335, ... port knock (which are rejected, of course, but still identified on the server) before finally connecting to your SSH port.
2004-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
To assemble a PC, you have lots of different screws. Identify them to prove yourself being a screw master! I scored 3, pretty average.
2004-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Three brothers, all of them blind, scammed Israel telcom companies for years, using intelligence and uncanning hearing capabilities. "It used to be disgusting to be blind, now its creepy, you can do what other people cant possibly ever grasp", says one of the three.
2004-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Not a new idea, but interesting visually: An artist is repeating the same drawing of a face each hour on his LSD trip. The face goes from realistic to totally nuts and back again as the chemicals do their work and recede again.
2004-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The ultimate in cruelty, this flash game wants you to shoot cats. Dont try this at home.
2004-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
German. Linked from the titanic magazine website, this one is senseless, but acutely cute. Comics and thoughts on life, uniquely simply presented.
2004-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Holongate is an open source project with some improvements for the Eclipse platform. Most mentionable is the support for SVG graphics.
2004-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A mix of review and rant, this multi-sectioned article compares FreeBSD and Linux both from system and user level.
2004-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
PC Magazine reviews the Kinesis Advantage keyboard, which has most of its keys in two bowls, one for each hand. Typing speed should be a lot faster with one of them, as well as less straining. Unfortunately, 360 US$ is a bit hefty.
2004-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A truly grand hack: Masked as a device driver, the CoLinux team is running the linux kernel in Ring 0 mode under windows, giving it full access to the CPU.
2004-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Popular Science magazine has a short article about a new type of drone, a surprisingly big zeppelin: 150m long, taking 2 tons payload, hovering at about 9 kilometers (thus evading most aerial missiles), powered by sun cells on its surface.
2004-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Using of the shelf software and sensors, the US military is designing devices that survey your current emotional status and submit it to your group. Useful for soldiers, invasive for normal people. By Wired news.
2004-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
PC Magazine reviewed lots of input devices. Most of them are either uninteresting or already in my Input Devices article, with one exception: The Frogpad, which is a one handed full keyboard (like the Half Keyboard).
2004-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
OReilly brings, in its network security section, a short and useful article about OpenBSD (an OS similar to Linux, but with total focus on security). It is even partially funded by the military.
2004-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Extreme Programming (XP) seems to be en vogue now; too much, as I think. While some of the XP ideas (use cases, scoreboard cards, extensive testing) are certainly useful, others are definitely harmful (test before you code; code only as much as you need). This is the center of XP counters.
2004-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Similar to the Freenet project but far more focused (and thus userfriendly), Mute uses only deferred instead of direct downloads. The UDP packets travel in a ant-like strategy such that only a minimum of packets get lost.
2004-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Mark Webbink, Paralegal at Red Hat, explains what Open Source (OSS) means legally; while OSS licenses are not well established in courts, it pays to have the legal knowledge. A good read to give to managers, too.
2003-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A NOC (network operations centre) does not need to be expensive; this fact helps when the funding department is stingy about security. A few low end computers and minimal OpenBSD and Linux boxes suffice. Provided you know what you are doing.
2003-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
OnLamp delivers an article about 8 open source myths - and their appropriate reality. For example "open source will attract lots of bugfixing supporters" will translate to "be glad when you have 1 or 2 supporters, at all".
2003-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Try being a bit like Picasso... This flash application lets you combine Picasso style faces to construct a picture of your own.
2003-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Being more a gyro balanced one wheel motorcycle than a Segway, the Bombardier Embrio is a concept of a future vehicle, set at a travel speed of about 35 km/h. Only a study, not a working model yet.
2003-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Russians can do movies too. Spiked with ironic references to much of hollywoods famous stuff, this flash movie proves: Smoking kills.
2003-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Three students make "eye post" - small poems, attached to traffic lights; each month a new one, as an poetry experiment. German.
2003-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
MobileBurn reports of the Auracomm Docker, a bluetooth headset that improves sound quality by inducing a magnetic bubble around to user which facilitates wireless transmission. Health issues are not a point here.
2003-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Wired News reports of affective computing, a research field aimed at bringing machines closer to recognizing and imitating human emotion (not actually feeling it!). In this case, its a female avatar named Laura that motivates test persons to exercise more. And it seems to work.
2003-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Simply hilarious. Throw Santa Claus as far out as you can. My personal record is 350.4 meters. This is a splendid example of beautiful yet clear game design.
2003-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The gyration optical mouse can also be used in mid-air. I have still to get an explanation of how this shall work (obviously some gyrostabilization system is involved), but thinkgeek is selling those, so I assume it is not a hoax.
2003-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The MIT released its peer-to-peer protocol simulator. Used to measure performance of your P2P protocol. I didnt try, but I sure wish this had existed when I wrote my master thesis (Agentopia).
2003-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Since every Java class file can be reverse engineered without effort, obfuscators are in high demand. This is a free choice, plus the site has a list of alternatives (link at the bottom of the page).
2003-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
I have been one of those Java developers who are a bit wary of XML that comes in a form way too complicated for simple communication needs. XOM fills that market niche.
2003-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Popular Science magazine presents the coolest technological inventions of 2003. With at least one picture per item and some introductory explanation, this is easily the most interesting single article I read this year.
2003-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
As a free alternative to Lonely Planet and assorted comes the Wiki Travel, a free resource for traveling. The fact that everyone can contribute makes for incredibly detailed descriptions as everyone writes about his/her homezone.
2003-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
IBM's Alphaworks is on the bleeding edge once again. MDA has the potential to become the next rage, being model architecture and code generation combined with design patterns. And here is the toolkit for it.
2003-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
I bought one extremly cool barebone from Lex. They call it book-size PC, and they mean that. All that fits in is 512MB SDRAM and a notebook harddisk, and 3 Realtek network cards, in my case. Can be bought from mini-itx.de under Barebones/With CPU in Germany. Runs smoothly with Debian.
2003-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Why a hacker logo? Maybe because humans like symbols. Plus, the Go "glider" is a beautiful one. The author also maintains the Howto Become A Hacker, the History of Hackerdom, and the Jargon File.
2003-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Huminity is an advanced chat and social graph application that shows all your connections (after you have entered them, that is) but goes beyond that and shows even more edges of the graphs.
2003-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Bjarne Stroustrup talks with Artima about the perils of staying too low level and venturing too object-oriented in C++ programming style.
2003-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Joel Spolsky rants about programmers that ignore i18n (internationalization) issues - and offers a fine introduction into the various key encoding schemes.
2003-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Toms Hardware Guide visited Chenbro Micom Ltd. to have a close look into the production of custom PC cases.
2003-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Psychologists at the University of Bochum created a demo of a walking person as points. Sliders allow for adjustment of mood and gender; the results on the walking style can be observed.
2003-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
An emerging technology on Siggraph is the fog screen: A fine layer of fog is sprayed into the air and a video projector uses it as display area.
2003-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Not exactly new, but a good reminder from the Eiffel Team nonetheless: Writing better software with design techniques such as this one.
2003-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Arthur Schopenhauers dialectic take on discussion: Not being right, but having right is his motto here.
2003-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
If you were an operating system, which one would it be? I am slackware linux. Presented by BB Spot.
2003-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Gizmo Bytes bring a simple and good explanation and comparison between SD and MMC cards. The bottom line is: There is not much difference in terms of speed and storage density.
2003-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
This introduction by Mike Perry describes a systematic approach into reverse engineering. Nothing new for the experiences programmer (it is essentially debugging), but nice nonetheless.
2003-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The prestigious cDc (cult of the dead cow) peekabooty project has passed two years. One of the lead developers resumes their lessons learned.
2003-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Evolutionary programming is a word where most people dont know what they are talking about. This is a good reminder from the University of Bochum.
2003-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A chronological view of the internet evolution. Not in any case to be taken seriously.
2003-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Java is often said to be slow. It is not. Some common myths debunked by Brian Goetz.
2003-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
If you dont know jack about complementary colors, why not let a program decide for you? This is it.
2003-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
E is a superset of Java; its main addition are asynchronous programming. Most notably, it is impossible to produce deadlocks.
2003-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
I have always been unsatisfied with the current state of data input into a computer; consequently, I have been in the search for the Holy Grail of input. This article presents different (working and/or gaming) input devices that I have used, plan to use, or outright reject.
2003-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A brief introduction by Woody Pidcock into the concepts of controlled language structures.
2003-03 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Jacob is a Java/COM bridge (a Java class and a DLL) which basically means that you can access COM components from a Java program. It can be used to connect to MS Word and MS Excel, as well as any other program which uses COM. In this article, I concentrate on the usage of MS Word per Jacob.
2003-02 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Mind maps are an effective visual way to organize information, plans, or knowledge on a paper. Hardly a new thing, it is still something too few people know.
2003-01 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The Open Web Application Security Project tries to make our online world a bit safe by providing advice for web developers.
2002-12 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Did you ever try an idea and just too many people tried to discourage you, without them even noticing? This is stop energy. By Dave Winer (no pun intended).
2002-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Martin Fowler, James Gosling, Bruce Eckel. Various Artima interviews with software specialists.
2002-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The Peons Guide To Secure System Development lists the most common security mistakes in programming. Michael Bacarella fumes against unsecure programmers.
2002-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A walkthrough for Debian 3.0 (Woody) by Clinton De Young. As the debian online documentation is notoriously fragmented and outdated, this is a welcome relief.
2002-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
HSQLDB is a tiny database that is held in memory; ideally suited for being used as SQL destination during development.
2002-08 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
One of the pioneers of structured programming and the computer age, Dijkstra shaped many fundamental algorithms and concepts of computer science.
2001-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
After going to Singapore in order to craft my master thesis on Mobile Agents, I made this little Survival Guide. It addresses in detail the situation and neccissities at the NTU (Nanyang Technological University) of Singapore where I studied.
2001-10 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Mobile Agents are the next generation computing layer; they are what the Client/Server paradigm was to monolithic programming. Agents are basically traveling objects (code plus data) which operate autonomous from their originating computer; thus, connectivity is not required. In my diploma thesis at NTU Singapore, I designed this practical peer-to-peer Mobile Agents network with advanced features such as anonymizing and treasuring.
2001-09 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Coat is a small yet powerful realtime graph visualization toolkit. It uses the Java 2D library (contained in JDK 1.2) and has only 11 classes. Features include: Zooming, scrolling, graph overlay/stack/distro, line & point customization, labels, logarithmic scaling, greek characters. I designed and implemented this toolkit because every other well written visualization library seemed to pay its power with a certain bloatedness. In contrast, this GPL'd jar is meant for ripping and usage alike.
2001-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Computing the minimum diameter in a graph, more specifically: the minimum latency inside the processor mesh of a satellite onboard computer, is an NP hard problem. In the scope of my stay at NTU Singapore, I studied the use of genetic algorithms (make a set of solutions, interbreed them, let only the top 10% or so survive, rinse, clean, repeat), to solve this problem. For regular graphs, the ideal structure (an H-Graph) is known so I knew the maximum fitness beforehand.
1999-06 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The FastJack password cracker is a fast but dumb password cracker for un*x like system password files. Instead of some obscure (more or less) brute force or dictionary approach it simply tests the contents already given in the password file - usually the name, job or similar things. I wrote this as a "preprocessor" of sorts, to be used before a real password cracker (which would consume more cycles). FastJack also served as a C practice; normally I do not like this sorry excuse for a language very much.
1998-04 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
I remember Phantasy Star II on the Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) to be one of my most beautiful gaming experiences when I was young. It has this weird console charme with running around, earning mesetas and reading equipment in shortform ("crm knfe", anyone? ;-). So, when I accidently stumbled across Wolfgang Seh's phantasy star site, I asked him for permission to mirror it with modifications. He agreed and here it is.
1997-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
I founded my own Shadowrun nexus. Unlike other sites, this one is a no-frills type of thing; I focus on providing resources, both magic and technology. The Meat Market presents my characters, most of them in great detail.
1997-07 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
A hungarian naming convention (HNC) is a programming idiom which says that prefixing a variable with one or more letters indicating its type increases the readability of source code. I agree with this idiom. My personal HNC for Java has been optimized over the years to make my code more understandable while producing a minimum of visual clutter. It has been adopted so far by all companies that I worked for.
1997-05 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
The famed japanese swordman and sage, Miyamoto Musashi, wrote, at the end of his life 1645, this book explaining the 5 principles of ground, water, fire, wind and void. The focus is on the different attitudes (styles) found in swordfighting.
1996-11 :: Kai Ruhl :: link to article
Sigh... The sins of the youth are always going to haunt you... Anyway, when we were young we found that Purity Test a worthwile party activity, to say the least... Childish at it seems from the today's point of view, those were different times. The principle is quite simple: You answer 500 questions, from the trivial ("ever fantasized about a film star?") to the outright bizarre ("ever practiced necrophilia?"). The answers are counted, evaluated and ultimately you gain a so-called purity rating from 0 to 100% indicating your sin level.
