British man 'recovered from HIV'

"Doctors are planning further tests on a British man whose body has reportedly cured itself of HIV without treatment.

That's just amazing. The problem is that the article doesn't say whether or not his initial test was a false-positive. They can happen in any test, so why didn't they say if he was tested twice when diagnosed? The article does say that there have been documented cases of this happening in Africa, so who am I to be the skeptic? It would be a good day if they could use his blood to figure out how to combat Aids.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4432564.stm

LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling

"LightScribe enables you to create professional looking labels and burn them directly onto your CDs and DVDs. The best part, this is all done with the same drive you use to burn your music or data. You just burn your data, turn the disc, and burn the label."

I've known that drives come with lightscribe, in fact, I think my LG burner has it, but I never really knew what it did. I ran across this article on Digg.com and it explains it all. This is a very cool technology. If it weren't for a few problems with it, it might just put Sharpie out of business (yes, I go through a lot of Sharpies every year). The two problems I can immediately think of are:

1. You have to buy the specialized disks, which will most likely be very expensive. If it is HP that has them then you can expect to pay at least three times more than you do for the disks you buy now. In Western Canada, I can get 50 blank DVDs for $24.99 on sale. These disks might run anywhere up to $75 - $100. That's just too much.


2. The image burned onto the top is supposed to last up to nine months under normal inside light. Nine months? That's just not worth the cost. Sharpie, maybe, won't be going out of business.

Combining Ajax and SVG

"Combining Ajax and SVG



This (very detailed) article shows you how to take Ajax, one of the best things to happen to web sites since sliced bread, and the SVG standard to create some pretty cool stuff."

Another link for further review.

The iCel battery pack runs your iPod for up to 200 hours

This is very cool. The 18 hours I get seems piddly compared to 200! I'd have to recharge my iPod once a week. I wonder, though, how many hours you could get with the new video iPod. The battery that ships with it lasts for about 2 hours when watching videos. 2 hours. That's nothing. Apple could've found a better battery than that, couldn't they? I suppose it might've been hard to find one that would last longer and would still fit into that tiny little package.

The iCel battery pack runs your iPod for up to 200 hours

Sure, your piddling iPod battery might make it through a commute our two, but how about a cross country road trip?
And back? Well, Lithium House has just what the doctor ordered with their iCel external battery packs for the iPod,
coming in 50, 96, and 200 hour varieties. (Ok, so this road trip of yours probably won’t involve a lot of
sleeping.)

Sonar Axe theremin-guitar hybrid

Sonar Axe theremin-guitar hybrid

Is this not the coolest guitar you've ever seen? And the notes play when you run your hand between the two rods. At $425, I think it's a bargain!

Sony halts production of copy-protected CDs

Sony halts production of music CDs with copy-protection scheme

"Stung by continuing criticism, the world's second-largest music label, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, promised Friday to temporarily suspend making music CDs with antipiracy technology that can leave computers vulnerable to hackers."

Well, well, well. That didn't take long. I'm hoping that "temporarily" means forever. Or better yet, until they can fix it up so it's not so restricting and it doesn't invade people's privacy. To add to this, the first virus was released yesterday that will attach itself to Sony's code and infect your computer.

Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications

Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications
Why Microsoft and Google are cleaning up with AJAX
Ajax for Java developers: Ajax with Direct Web Remoting
AJAX Patterns
bloxpress demo

AJAX

Instead of saying I was going to look into AJAX, I actually am. Here's a link for further inspection. I'm reading some of it now and it seems pretty basic. Here's an example of the code. Remember, this is basic stuff just for me to get the jist of it.
http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/AJAX:Getting_Started

I know it's a bit messy because the page isn't wide enough, but you can see where it's going nonetheless. Plus, in FeedDemon it looks perfect, which is where I'll be viewing it.

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">

   var http_request = false;

   function makeRequest(url) {

       http_request = false;

       if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { // Mozilla, Safari,...
           http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
           if (http_request.overrideMimeType) {
               http_request.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
               // See note below about this line
           }
       } else if (window.ActiveXObject) { // IE
           try {
               http_request = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
           } catch (e) {
               try {
                   http_request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
               } catch (e) {}
           }
       }

       if (!http_request) {
           alert('Giving up :( Cannot create an XMLHTTP instance');
           return false;
       }
       http_request.onreadystatechange = alertContents;
       http_request.open('GET', url, true);
       http_request.send(null);

   }

   function alertContents() {

       if (http_request.readyState == 4) {
           if (http_request.status == 200) {
               alert(http_request.responseText);
           } else {
               alert('There was a problem with the request.');
           }
       }

   }
</script>
<span
   style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline"
   onclick="makeRequest('test.html')">
       Make a request
</span>

Arrested Development in Death Throes

"Arrested Development's season order has been reduced from 22 episodes to 13 and airings have been suspended for the remainder of sweeps month. This follows it being preempted by baseball for all of October. The Fox broadcast network just claimed another victim."

NOOOOOOOOO!!! The smartest, funniest show on TV and they decide because the ratings aren't high enough their going to kill it? And slowly at that! I'm hoping everyone will check this show and save its life. I also hope that Greg's Blog has it wrong and it's just gossip. So funny. I'll miss it sorely.

read more | digg story

Canadian ISP nolonger offering USENET

"Rogers has decided to stop offering access to USENET because of the low numbers of users and because they are committed to stop USENET as a transer medium for child pornography."

That's just not a good idea. What exactly does "low numbers" mean? 10% of all users? I use Usenet regularly and I've never run across problems with child porn. I suppose if a person really wanted to they could find some, but they could also find some on websites. Maybe Rogers should stop offering internet service as a way to curb the distribution of child porn. Idiots.
We have a tough time with the selection of ISPs in Canada, why make it more difficult for us? So instead of $34.95 a month with Usenet access, is Rogers going to drop their price to, say, $29.99 without it? I doubt it. So they're going to lose a bunch of users who need Usenet access to another ISP? Smart business move.


read more | digg story

Rent-a-Bag

This is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. This is the smartest thing I've ever seen. I'm a bit torn between the two. On one hand, it's completely useless to someone like me (a male). On the other... If my wife saw this she'd think it was ingenious. If you feel the need, check it out here.

Steve Jobs comments on feature-length films on iTunes

Steve Jobs: "There is some evidence that shows people downloading movies illegally wouldn't have bought them anyway."

That is one classic quote. You think? The MPAA says they're losing billions. I'd say at least 99.9% of those people downloading those movies would've never went to the theatre to see them. I know that for all the music I've ever downloaded, there was never a chance of me buying any of it. Why? Because it sucked. As I've said before. Any time I've ever grabbed an album or a song and actually thought it was good and I wasn't going to delete it, I went and bought the album. You're not losing any money. You're wasting money on all those lawyers.

read more | digg story

Blogshares Updated

I am now the majority holder in headspacej.blogspot.com. There are still some shares left, but I own 22% and Jer own 20%. Get ready for those cravings Jer! The gift of shares I received today turned out to be a double shot. The site was restructured and I was forced to sell 60 shares for approximately $2,600. By buying those shares I have tripled the value of headspacej to over $6,400. Come on Jer, link up, I need a good ROI.

AJAX PHPMyAdmin Database Manager Alternative

"A single-page solution for exploring and editing databases from a browser. Edit data just like you would in a desktop application, without submit buttons or page refreshes."

And just after talking about AJAX I run into this. I think it's brilliant. Wouldn't it be nice if every time you wanted to post something to your blog you didn't have to go through the whole process? You just edit the page and it's instantly there. No republishing index, logging into blogger, none of that. I may not have all the facts straight, but that's how I imagine it to work. If it doesn't, it should.

Saving it for a rainy day. I'm just too busy to keep up today.

read more | digg story

Moving towards Web 2.0

"Web 2.0 is more than just a technical term. In fact, the discussion surrounding Web 2.0 borders on philosophical. Most people in the tech trade perceive Web 2.0 to be the transition of the Web from a collection of websites to a fully fledged computing platform that serves Web applications to end users."

Dave Chalk has been around for years giving newbies advice on everything from how to install a new mouse to setting up your own webserver. Through radio or TV, he's done it all. This article is a look at what is perceived to be the next big thing. First came the Internet, then the World Wide Web, and now Web 2.0. I don't believe the transition will be mind blowing like the Web was for me in 1995, but gradually you'll see more sites move towards Web services. Chalk's insight into AJAX, something new to me (and another new language I'll learn just because), is interesting. Are sites like Flickr the beginning of the coming revolution? As I've mentioned before, I really dislike Flickr. I don't like it's limitations and I don't like it's UI. I suppose we'll see where Web 2.0 takes us. Now I'm off to read up on AJAX. As if all those other languages weren't enough :P

Happy 20th Birthday Microsoft Windows

"You know a computer operating system has really arrived and become a household name when journalists like us begin comparing it to teenage movie stars and young jocks."

<sigh> I'll compare it to a 20 year old if you'd like.

1. It never does what you tell it to.
   
2. After staying up too long it just falls over and crashes.
   
3. It thinks it's better than you, even though you know better
   
4. All its "friends" think it's indestructable, those who don't have their heads up Bill's butt know better.
   
5. Ahhh... To be king of the world, when most of your peers are just plain ol' better than you.
   

You can read Greg Michetti's full article on Canoe. From what I can tell, he's being paid by Microsoft to say such wonderful things. No one is waiting for Vista. We're all waiting for Apple to get the Intel chips and lower their prices so that we can all buy Macs. Sheesh, you'd think he would've known. I'm not a Mac-head, nor a Linux-lover. Just someone who sees the problems of Windows on a day to day basis.

Grokster's illegal downloading service shuts down

"The popular Internet file sharing service Grokster Ltd. may be going the way of Napster.

In a surprise settlement with the recording and movie industry announced Monday, Grokster agreed to shut down its music and movie swapping software and pay $50 million in damages."

GOOD! People don't understand how unsafe and unsecure those networks really are. Using any P2P app is just about the stupidest thing I can think of (other than no firewall).

Sure, with applications like Grokster you get free movies and free music, Wheeeee!, but you also are inviting whatever other programs people feel like making straight into your PC. I've heard it before, "Well, it said 'Free Porn' so I downloaded it." Okay, really, are you using your brain? These networks are a breeding ground for virii. I have to say it again. GOOD!

The Microsoft memos revealed

"Dave Winer, posted on his blog the full text of the emails from Bill Gates and Ray Ozzie which Winer says were given to him on the condition that the source would not be revealed."

When will Mr. Bill ever learn? NEVER write anything incriminating in your emails to employees! These are not as bad as some, but talking about how everything will soon become integrated, the whole reason MS had an anti-trust case in the first place, was not thought through properly. Ahhhh... Mr. Bill.

read more | digg story

Police Called In To Investigate Sony

"Sony could find itself on the wrong side of the law following revelations that it is spying on consumers who buy Sony BMG Music."

A follow up to the Sony post on Nov. 1st. This is good to hear. Sony has to learn that they can't force themselves onto people computers. I didn't know that they were sending personal data back to the Sony servers when I blogged this the first time. That's just plain wrong. They wouldn't go to jail, but Sony should be forcibly stopped and fined a very large amount of cash.

read more | digg story

Dynamic RSS Feeds

"Ever wonder how to create an RSS feed? This article/tutorial explains it all, beginning to end."

I know it's a niche group that might find this interesting/useful, but I thought I'd post it for further inspection at a later date. Never hurts to have bits of useful PHP code around.

read more | digg story

ABC launches "Lost" podcast

"Are you a Lost fanatic (like I am)? Check iTMS. The first episode has interesting remarks from Daniel Dae Kim and Josh Holloway."

I don't know if anyone else is as fanatical about lost as I am, but this is a must listen. Imagine that, podcasts and lost all in one package. Ahhh I revel in it. The only thing better would be if Arrested Development was on for 6 hours a week (One hour a night for six days. They could have Sunday off), and they too had a podcast.


read more | digg story

Blogshares

So, I've looked at blogshares before, but not really hard until last night. What a fun idea! You can buy and sell stock on any of the 5,000,000+ blogs that are in existence. I noticed the link on Jer's site before, but never really bothered to check it out in any great detail. After making my account the first thing I did was to claim my own blog. I want to be the owner of something that I created, don't I? For doing so, I received 1250 shares in my own blog. Cool!

I bought another 1,000 with part of the $500 they give you to start with, which instantly shot the price of my blog up, making my networth closer to $900 instead of the original $500.

So what do I do with the remainder of my money? Oh, I don't know, how about buy a little piece of headspacej? Oh, you bet. It's hostile takeover time (remember, this is all for fun and it's not real money and I can't actually steal Jer's blog from him. I know you knew that, I just thought I'd clarify). So, I own 2% of headspacej. I know... it's a long way off, but I'll get to that 51% I need. Jer, I noticed, only owns 20% of his own site, so he'll have to make some serious cash to buy a majority in his own site. I, on the other hand, own 45% of my own blog, but have $0 to buy any more shares. Time to start buying and selling to see if I can't make some money.
Isn't it fitting that I'm learning all about shares in my Accounting course? Maybe that's the whole reason for the sudden interest in the site when I could have done it the first time I was there. Anyway, if a game of "Let's see how much money I can make on a fake stock market" intrigues you, check it out.

Paying the MPAA for the privilege to rewind may be soon to come

"DRM is the newest tool the MPAA has to use in its long battle against Fair Use rights. 'In 5 years, you'll be lucky if you can even play stuff you've purchased without relicensing it.'"

There's a point where enough is enough. Relicensing all the DVDs you've already purchased? Someone has to take a stand against the MPAA and all it's lackies.

read more | digg story

Robot Builds Copies of Itself

"US researchers have devised a simple robot that can make copies of itself from spare parts."

Okay, no, this is not cool. So we're trying to get them to think for themselves, and then we teach them how to duplicate themselves? Doesn't anyone else see something wrong here? Has no one watched a Sci-Fi movie involving robots before? Didn't anyone watch iRobot? Sheesh!

read more | digg story

Twisted Corby

Corby from The Twisted Pickle took the time to stop by and leave a "thank ya" for mentioning his show on my blog. He probably just used the search feature on blogger.com and found all the sites that mention his show. And then, he probably cut and paste the same thing into any posts that mention his show... But! I respect that. Podcasters do their shows for free. They buy equipment, record inane or interesting things, and then they hope like crazy that someone will listen. There's no money in it. There's no glory in it.

So Corby stopped by. That's cool. He appreciates his listeners. If he didn't, that'd just suck. I think it's a little like famous Hollywood people. They're too famous to appreciate the people who made them that way. That's just not cool. I know a lot of people don't like The Bloodhound Gang, but from what I've read they always stay after their show to sign autographs, take pictures, and actually have conversations with their fans. Why? Because they wouldn't be making any money without the people who buy the albums and come to the shows and they respect that and want to it to continue.

The level of notoriety that Corby, and others like him get is minimal. Why would you do a podcast then? Hahahaha. I know if I wasn't getting something out of it I wouldn't. I wonder if each podcaster is getting something different out of their experience. It'd be interesting to know. Keith and the Girl do it because they want to be able to do it for money one day. If it's not on XM Radio then on KRock (sp?) radio in New York. Dawn and Drew have already started making money off of theirs because of Adam Curry. So... Why do the others do it? Tim Henson's just a freak and that's why he does it. I'm sure there are other reasons for him, I just don't know them. As for the others? 15 minutes of fame? The hope of 11 minutes of fame? Do they just like the thought of their voice being heard in a great empty internet? I guess I just don't know.

adSense

I was a bit apprehensive about my move to put adSense on my site. It's annoying. When I go to sites with advertising I'm usually instantly turned off from the site. I guess I should say if the advertising is intrusive or annoying. The thing with this adSense that I find funny is, just now, there was an ad for something and it looked interesting so I clicked it. Turns out it was extremely interesting and I went all through their site looking at their product and now I'm actually thinking I might buy it. Something cool from something so uncool.

Kevin Federline is the future of music

I could've swore I wrote about this already. I may be getting my personas mixed up. So this is Kevin Federline's stab at the music industry. It seems that wife, Britney, is helping him out because I think it's aweful. Sounds a bit like Eminem. I wouldn't be making music just to sound like Eminem, the dude's got it down pretty good.

"a copy of Kevin Federline's new single has leaked to the internet and it's every bit as awesome as you could imagine."

Now, I quote that with every bit of sarcasm that I can muster, but this person was serious when they wrote that. Give it a listen and decide for yourself.
Listen Here

Get a personalized WAV from the guy known for AOL's "You've Got Mail!"

"El Edwards, the voice of AOL's "You've Got Mail", is now making money on the internet with his famous voice. You too can have a personalized wav file for your favorite email client that says "You've Got Mail, Bob!"."

Seriously, how cool would it be to have this guys voice on your answering machine? Even a personalized "You've Got Mail" voice would be cool. What's even better is the new mail announcement in Eurotrip. Braindead movie, great new mail wav.

read more | digg story

Japan Demos UHDTV (7680 x 4320)

"Aiming at next-generation broadcasting, Japan Broadcast Corporation (NHK) has demonstrated a live relay of a 4x x 8k resolution Super Hi-Vision program connecting a 260-km distance by a fiberoptic network.

NHK's next-generation broadcasting system can convey the sensation of reality to viewers. Super Hi-Vision is the provisional format for that purpose, achieving 7680 x 4320 pixels."

So now those of us without HDTV are more than a couple of steps behind. I have an HDTV, just not the signal. In Canada, the choice of providers is pathetic and the channels they carry are even more pathetic. UHDTV. 260KM over a fiberoptic network? The costs of such an infrastructure would be astronomical. It would be great, don't get me wrong, just not likely anytime soon. With that resolution, the clarity of the screen would probably be better than what my eyes can perceive. There's a point where technology might have to realize that we're never going to catch up. Maybe those engineers in Japan should think about that.

read more | digg story

Make a Blog Header Graphic

"This one's a quick & dirty guide for the people that asked me how I created my header graphics. Header graphics mark a blog as unique and can lure a reader in from the get-go. Create several of them, make them rotate and your blog will give off a dynamic appearance."

If I find the time I may actually do this. It's a nice touch to personalize your site a bit. I do like Blogger's templates, at least most of them, but there just isn't enough selection. Of course, you can modify colours and whatnot, but that takes time, energy, and know-how. I have the last one but not the others. Cool little tip I'd say.

read more | digg story

BV-01 The Robot of Tomorrow

Cool CG short from Alessandro Pacciani about the robot of tomorrow. Very impressive for someone who has had no formal training.

Anyone who might be even a little interested should take a look. No, wait. Everyone should see the work this guy did. I'll follow the link to his site later and find out exactly who he is, but with no training? That's one talented artist!

read more | digg story

Changes

With the change over from one site to two, I've decided to make a change in the template. Sort of like a new beginning. I've also added Google's adsense. I don't expect to make anything off of it, but hey, it can't hurt for it to be there, can it? Anyway, onward and that-a-way.

Conversion 2.0

I've moved everything. If you notice something that I missed, let me know.