December 4, 2008 - 12:35, by Dostalek, Kevin
Just saw this... it actually seems to be more the real deal than those other Linux hacks of gOS that I've seen in the past. I personally think it's a stretch to call this an OS, but I can imagine a bunch of embedded scenarios where this would be perfect.
You Tube Video
November 23, 2008 - 17:21, by Dostalek, Kevin
I needed to install the Java JRE last night (it's been awhile, and my tablet's been somewhat of an experimental OS platform lately). So I went over to java.com to grab it (by the way, I always thought it was ironic that the Java installer uses an ActiveX control if you are using IE).
So the installer starts and here's what I see:
After a quick doubletake, I realize what this is actually asking me and I'm baffled for a moment.
Does this represent some new found love between Sun and Microsoft. I doubt it, and after some quick web research, sure enough they still pretty much hate each other, but will of course do business with each other. What this really represents is another move on the field of battle betwen Microsoft and Google (remember, what the JRE used to try and install here? The Google Toolbar).
Anyway, I thought it was a remarkable enough sight to remark on it. ;)
November 15, 2008 - 13:36, by Dostalek, Kevin
I'm sure this is probably in geek mathematics books and it's old news-- but I, not being a math major had never seen this before and found it facinating.
|
1 x 1 |
= |
1 |
|
11 x 11 |
= |
121 |
|
111 x 111 |
= |
12321 |
|
1111 x 1111 |
= |
1234321 |
|
11111 x 11111 |
= |
123454321 |
|
111111 x 111111 |
= |
12345654321 |
|
1111111 x 1111111 |
= |
1234567654321 |
|
11111111 x 11111111 |
= |
123456787654321 |
|
111111111 x 111111111 |
= |
12345678987654321 |
October 9, 2008 - 02:45, by Dostalek, Kevin
I found a very cool tool last night from Microsoft (presently in open beta) called
FolderShare that has solved a very basic problem for me.
Since I have many computers (4 that I personally use), keeping files in sync and available offline was a challenge. Specifically document files, my one note files, and mind map files. My
previous solution was to use Microsoft Groove which supported a direct "folder" mode of sharing, which worked pretty well, although running Groove was pretty resource intensive. Unfortunately, Groove doesn't support this type of folder sharing on 64bit OS'es (no idea why), and my new laptop is running Vista64.
So enter FolderShare. It uses the new
Microsoft Mesh infrastructure (more to come on that along with other Cloud Computing topics) and easily let's you share any folder across multiple computers. You can even share folders with others (an outgrowth of SkyDrive), and allow remote file access to any of your computers from any internet browser (on any PC, not just yours).
So far I have all 4 of my PC's sync'ing about 4 folders, and they are doing it flawlessly, and pretty quick too (I believe it's using some of the BITS protocol behind the scenes, so it's sort of like a bittorrent network amongst your PC's). It has an incredibly small footprint and appears to work behind whatever firewall configuration I throw at it. In the future I may try and even add some of my other home PC's into the mix to get a no-management peer backup solution in place.
One thing to note, that the product is still in beta (but seems ready to go for me). If you decide to try it, you'll have to create an account first, because it doesn't seem they've gotten around to integrated it with the LiveID system.
October 1, 2008 - 02:37, by Dostalek, Kevin
I wanted to share this promo video about the Carnegie Melon project
Alice for a couple reasons. One, that I think this is an important project in and of itself. This is our industry, which is projected to see significant challenges in having enough skilled professionals to meet the future demands and the Alice project is a very important and innovative solution to help turn the tide of the current trends.
Alice Promo Video
The second reason I wanted to share this video is to get us thinking about how technology can be leveraged to help overcome other learning challenges people face. Strategies like minimizing frustration, utilizing storytelling and creation, simplifying the complex, connecting the known to the unknown, making the abstract more concrete, turning boring tasks into exciting experiences, etc... What skill do you think we could apply the "gameplay" metaphor on top of to change the world?