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Posted by on 25th August, 2007

Content aware image resizing

Content aware image resizing

Re-sizing an image is nothing new, and if you maintain the aspect ratio, it will look exactly the same but smaller or larger: smaller, you’ll see less of it and larger, you’ll distort the image. But what if you could in some way, intelligently resize an image without distorting the content of it…? What if that intelligent technology could identify the less important background pixels in an image and delete those to shrink the image without touching the main object in the middle? That sounds crazy, but that is exactly what this technology will offer. (Imagine this technology built into your browser…) [button link=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qadw0BRKeMk” color=”#FFFFCC” size=”1″ style=”4″ dark=”1″]read...

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Posted by on 25th August, 2007

Coffee types illustrated

Coffee types illustrated

A cup of coffee is just a cup of coffee, like anywhere else, right? I will have to disagree with that statement… I don’t know whether  it is just the differences in culture, but the coffee selection in Europe is just not that extensive as it is here in the US.  I live in Seattle, where there is literally a Starbucks on every corner and one can simply not avoid the sometimes ridiculous combinations that people come up with when ordering a cup of coffee. If you were ever wondering what all these Italian names for different types of coffee really mean when put together in a cup, here is a handy illustration that simplifies the mixtures and their exotic European names. [button link=”http://www.lokeshdhakar.com/2007/08/20/an-illustrated-coffee-guide/” color=”#FFFFCC” size=”1″ style=”4″ dark=”1″]read...

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Posted by on 23rd August, 2007

Build a Laser Spy Microphone.

Build a Laser Spy Microphone.

With less than $5 and it is incredibly simple. I had known about the technology, but thought it involved a more sensitive and expensive equipment. It turns out you can make yourself a simple Laser Microphone with a $2 laser and the light sensor from a nightlight… The technology involves around the fact that sounds [of your voice] are simply waves that cause vibrations in the air. The windows in any room will vibrate accordingly when impacted with these vibrations. If you point a laser light at the window and capture the reflected light on a sensor, any vibration on the window will be reflected and captured in your sensor. It is just a matter of translating the vibrations back to sound with software and any laptop with Windows will do that for you. [button link=”http://lifehacker.com/software/diy/build-a-laser-spy-microphone-on-the-cheap-292718.php” color=”#FFFFCC” size=”1″ style=”4″ dark=”1″]read...

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Posted by on 18th August, 2007

Quick(er) PC reboot

Quick(er) PC reboot

Rebooting a Windows computer is a pain in the neck and depending on the OS, hardware or software installed, it can take quite a while for the machine to boot up and be fully responsive. Averages run around one and a half minute. first the BIOS loads, and then eventually Windows. So, what if you could just restart Windows, without restarting the BIOS? “Sometimes, you need to reboot Windows (e.g. when installing new software), but there is no need to restart BIOS, too. However, the default is to reboot both. (That’s called doing a “cold boot,” rather than a “warm boot.”) There’s a trick that works on both XP and Vista to get it to do a warm boot instead, thus saving you 30 seconds per cycle” [button link=”http://www.codejacked.com/restarting-windows-without-restarting-your-pc-vista-or-xp/” color=”#FFFFCC” size=”1″ style=”4″ dark=”1″]read more[/button] Update: Apparently this trick only worked in older Windows 95/98...

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Posted by on 14th August, 2007

Advice Every Teacher Should Give

Advice Every Teacher Should Give

I read this brief post and was brought back in time when I actually would have thought certain things about the relevance of the class material in front of me with real life. How can this possibly be useful for any career or for life in general? This is just another hypothesis or algorithm exercise that has absolutely no purpose other than that it is needed to pass this course. I wish I had received the following answer and hopefully I would have paid more attention to all the following “useless” exercises…. [button link=”http://www.marcandangel.com/2007/08/15/the-advice-every-teacher-should-give-their-students/” color=”#FFFFCC” size=”1″ style=”4″ dark=”1″]read...

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Posted by on 11th August, 2007

5 Minutes to learn anything.

5 Minutes to learn anything.

So, you have  a few minutes left to just surf the web… maybe check reddit.com and you know you’ll get stuck there for way longer than that. Why not take the time and learn something the easy way by just watching a 5 minute video on the subject? “5min is a place to find short video solutions for practical questions and a place for people to share their knowledge. The idea behind 5min is very simple: any solution can be visually explained in no more than 5 minutes.” [button link=”http://www.5min.com/” color=”#FFFFCC” size=”1″ style=”4″ dark=”1″]read...

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Posted by on 2nd August, 2007

Amazon Flexible Payments Service

Amazon Flexible Payments Service

Amazon Flexible Payments Service (Amazon FPS) is the first payments service designed from the ground up specifically for developers. The set of web services APIs allows the movement of money between any two entities, humans or computers. It is built on top of Amazon’s reliable and scalable payment infrastructure.” It seems very flexible (hence the name, I guess…) and the pricing is surprisingly decent as well. There are several companies out there doing this this, PayPal being one of them, but I think this will offer some serious competition. [button link=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=342430011″ color=”#FFFFCC” size=”1″ style=”4″ dark=”1″]read...

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Posted by on 28th July, 2007

Bicycles in Amsterdam

Having lived in Amsterdam and Rotterdam for over a decade, this list of 82 pictures brought many memories back. Unlike in the USA, where everyone drives their SUV to the shops less than 1 km away, in Holland, they do it differently. The preferred method of transportation is the bicycle or “fiets”. Of course, for longer trips there is excellent public transportation and yes, people do own cars as well, albeit smaller ones. Soon after I learned to walk, the bike was the next logical method of going places…everywhere: to school, the grocery store, library, football games, etc and this in the almost constant rain or freezing, windy, bitter winters of Holland. “[in Holland] there are many cyclepaths and other segregated cycle facilities. The network stretches to all provinces, and the bordering nations Belgium and Germany. The country values its cycleways as much as any other method of transportation – like a network of roads, these cycleways can take you from any city to a destination of your choice...

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Posted by on 27th July, 2007

Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2

Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2

The new Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 is ready to be downloaded.  You can get it here: Visual Studio 2008 (formerly called “Orcas”) is Microsoft’s new flagship software development product for computer programmers. With features like multi-targeting support, Javascript Intellisense, AJAX support and LINQ, it sure promises to be a fully featured and exciting release. You can find the complete feature list in this white paper. [button link=”http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa700831.aspx” color=”#FFFFCC” size=”1″ style=”4″ dark=”1″]read...

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Posted by on 25th July, 2007

Disagree without offending

Disagree without offending

Whether you acquire this valuable skill or it is natural in you, it is one that one simply must have to be able to interact, socialize and simply succeed in your relationships with anyone you know or encounter in the future. Everyone is unique and so are their thoughts. The true art lies in being able to listen properly, communicate accordingly and whether you get your point across or not, whether you convince the other person or not, maintain the relationship intact or stronger than it was, even if no mutual agreement was reached. Here is an excellent article that highlights some of these points that one should keep in mind in any discussion. [button link=”http://johnplaceonline.com/achieve-balance/how-to-disagree-and-persuade-without-offending/” color=”#FFFFCC” size=”1″ style=”4″ dark=”1″]read...

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