HubbleSite - Entire Collection

HubbleSite - Entire Collection

http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/entire_collection/

We are just a spec of dust in this enormous universe that we can not even comprehend.

What can Enterprises Learn from Teenagers?

What can Enterprises Learn from Teenagers?

Corporate knowledge management sites lag behind the services that teenagers use - and by considerable distance. Don Rippert, Accenture's Chief Technology Officer, compared the experience of looking for documents and content on an average corporate knowledge management site with the way that teenagers will use interactive and collaborative services...

Are people really this stupid?

'Cool Cash' card confusion - News - Manchester Evening News

The 23-year-old, who said she had left school without a maths GCSE, said: "On one of my cards it said I had to find temperatures lower than -8. The numbers I uncovered were -6 and -7 so I thought I had won, and so did the woman in the shop. But when she scanned the card the machine said I hadn't.

Robot Cannon Kills 9, Wounds 14 on Danger Room

Robot Cannon Kills 9, Wounds 14 on Danger Room

What more can I say? Robo-cop?

5 concerns about the future of banking we need to get through our heads

1. It’s not [insert web2.0 banking website here] fault. Get over it, banker. Blaming leading edge organisations is like blaming the entrepreneur. “Oh no, please don’t let my customers actually find services from my competitors and then use them!”
2. We don’t get to charge people for slow, inefficient and bad service - and we certainly don’t want to charge people for daily hassles. Putting our service behind walls (policy walls, security walls or other kinds) where it can’t be accessed by users is bad. Don’t hide our services from our users.
3. People who bank aren’t uneducated yobbo’s unconcerned by facts. They’re our customers and our neighbours and if we play our cards right, our marketers and our community sales force. If we really play it right, customers can be the leaders of a “network marketing program”. There is no “us vs. them” issue.
4. We ignore new delivery systems at our own peril. RSS, SMS, iPhone, e-paper, Blackberry, widgets, podcasts, vlogs, Facebook, Twitter — these aren’t the competition, these are our new carriers. We need to learn how to deliver our content across every new technology that comes into view on the horizon.
5. Remember: A glass half full is actually ALL full, just half liquid, half gas. There is excellent work being done in the new world of online banking and it’s being done at banks like ours! We don’t need millions of dollars or super computers or years of training to make it happen; all we need is the right frame of mind. Let’s start building our own piece of the new world of banking.

*Based on the “10 obvious things about the future of newspapers you need to get through your head” posted at http://www.ryansholin.com/

Disrupting Internet Attackers' Black Markets

Oct. 15: Carnegie Mellon's Adrian Perrig Leads Research Team Dedicated To Analyzing and Disrupting Internet Attackers' Black Markets - Carnegie Mellon University

Paper Critters

Paper Critters: Online Paper Toy Creator

This is a wonderful way to waste time and be productive in parallel!

Listen Up!

Ten Supercharged Active Listening Skills To Make You More Successful Tyner Blain

Sometimes people just don't listen. Use these tips to improve your listening skills!

Paper-thin battery

Paper-thin battery may revolutionise electronics - Technology - smh.com.au

US researchers say they have invented a lightweight paper battery that could serve as an enhanced power storage device for the next generation of consumer electronic devices.
The battery produces electricity in the same way as the conventional lithium-ion batteries that power so many of today's gadgets, but all the components have been incorporated into a lightweight, flexible sheet of paper.

Fully-Armed Robots in Iraq

Warfare: First Fully-Armed Robots Patrolling in Iraq; First Shots Imminent - Gizmodo

Holy Toledo (or Iraq) Batman. Is this the beginning of the end? Sounds awfully dangerous (literally) to me!

Anyone want to buy this for me?

http://rushfaster.com.au/product.php?pProductID=VOL-1001-SLV

The Voltaic solar bags are mobile power generators, designed to charge your devices without tying you to a power outlet, which makes them ideal for traveling.

The bags come with a set of 11 standard adaptors for common cell phones and other devices. Recharge most small electronic devices including: cell phones, cameras, two way radios, PDA's, and MP3s. Note: it is not designed to charge laptops.

Embedded in the outside of the bags are three lightweight, tough, waterproof solar panels which generate up to 4 watts of power. This means quicker charge times! Included with each bag is a Li Ion battery pack which stores any surplus power generated, so it is available when you need it – not just when the sun is up.

The battery pack can also be charged using an AC travel charger or car charger (both included). This makes the Voltaic™ bags just as useful on the grid as off.

August 7 for new iMac, iLife to emerge early?

For all the apple fanpeople out there: http://notes.thinksecret.com/secretnotes/0707august7.shtml

Fingers as credit cards

Japanese look at fingers as credit cards
Taking the idea of a cashless society to a new level, a Japanese company said Monday it will try out a way to let customers pay simply by scanning their finger.

Jesus Robots (ie they can walk on water!)

Robots That Walk on Water: Scientific American: "The 'bugs,' two to six inches long and weighing a few grams, can scoot over water, reports IEEE Transactions on Robotics. Called STRIDE, for surface tension based robotic insect dynamic explorer, the robots use water's surface tension to amble on their spindly legs exactly like water striders, the insects that motivated the challenge."

Great Canary Telescope

iTWire - Great Canary Telescope flies free for first time
"The reflective telescope, sometimes also called GranTeCan, uses technology called adaptive optics, in which the mirror changes its shape in order to correct distortions of light caused by the Earth’s atmosphere"

Politiking MySpace vs. Facebook

'Socially Networked Voters Aren’t on MySpace,' Claims Australian Expert (SocialComputingMagazine.com)

I love this quote "Whoever’s advising Australian politicians on both sides about social computing and its potential impact has no idea."

Yeah? So what's new? Did you see my previous (http://kolyamiller.blogspot.com/2007/07/robocrooks-wtf.html) entry where Mick Keelty - the AFP Commissioner says "Technology such as cloned part-robot humans used by organised crime gangs pose the greatest future challenge to police, along with online scamming".

Most Politicians are so far removed from everyday life - let alone "tech life" - of course they have no idea.

Freaky Freaky Illusion...

Check out this freaky illusion

The brain is strange!

Technorati Tags: illusion, science

Water Somewhere else!

Scientists find water on extra-solar planet: "Scientists find water on extra-solar planet"

Scientists have, for the first time, conclusively discovered the presence of water vapour in the atmosphere of a planet beyond our Solar System.

Managing Your Money Online

40+ Resources for Managing Your Money Online

I work at a bank - so this list is probably more interesting to me than you - but I've included it just in case you are interested in money.

:-)

Transformers Denied Insurance Claim!

And I quote...

$665,789.11 requested reimbursement for repairs to your trailer. You claimed the damage was caused by a giant mechanical scorpion, which I can only assume is some amusement-park ride, although I question the wisdom of bringing your mobile home so close to such dangerous equipment.

Transformers insurance claim denied

Matrix Philosophy - Blue or Red Pill?

Matrix Philosophy - Blue or Red Pill?

On Facebook I asked a question about the red or the blue pill. A friend pointed me to this article (Thanks Alan).

Deep.

Auction Site for Vulnerabilities

An Auction Site for Vulnerabilities - Security News Analysis:
Discover a security flaw in a major application or system? You can't sell it on eBay. But starting this week, you can sell it on a new auction site that's not too much different.

Robocrooks? WTF?

Watch out for RoboCrooks - Technology - smh.com.au: "'Our environmental scanning tells us that even with some of the cloning of human beings - not necessarily in Australia but in those countries that are going to allow it - you could have potentially a cloned part-person, part-robot,' he said."

Huh? Am I missing something or does this guy not have a clue what he's talking about?

Man Bites Dog

Chinese man bites dog to death

I had to post this! Haha!

Pownce Vs Twitter

Can Pownce Pwn Twitter? Not If Jack Dorsey Keeps Walking To The Beat Of His Own Drum | The Tao Of Joe

I have a pownce account (and six invites if anyone is still interested), and I'm on twitter - and you know what? I like Twitter better (sounds like a tongue twister).

On Pownce I'm Kolya M. and on twitter I'm just kolya.

See you online.

Bar Codes

Scott Blake - Bar Code Art

This particular page let's you barcode demographic data of yourself into your own personal barcode. Works nicely.

Want Faster Web Loading?

OpenDNS

DNS is what allows you to type in a web address and end up at a website; DNS is transparent and yet fundamental to the operation of the Internet. There are two sides to DNS, the authoritative side which give out answers and the recursive side that ask questions on your behalf and holds onto them in case you ask again.

By using this site's DNS you can load from a cached version of the web page faster than your local ISP (not always - but most of the time).

Contactless payments; Secure or Not?

Good Read by Joel Hruska about contactless payment systems and their inherent (or lack thereof) security

As contactless payment systems begin to gain traction across the country, questions are mounting over whether or not the security backing the RF-based technology is sufficiently advanced to prevent account fraud and the theft of personal information. With contactless payment systems about to get even more popular in the United States, there are fears that the wireless technology behind those systems is not secure enough for widespread adoption, despite assurances from Visa, MasterCard, and other major players.

Roswell was REAL

Roswell aliens theory revived by deathbed confession

Who knew? Not much coverage of this is there? hmmm...

Social Technographics?

Which one are you?


Taken from a great article (although a little old already) at http://blogs.forrester.com

Firstborn children are the cleverest

New Scientist: "Firstborn children score significantly higher in IQ tests than their younger siblings,".

"Parents might be able to boost the IQs of younger siblings by scheduling in more individual time with them" - well; no shit Sherlock! If I had all the time I had with my first daughter with my other kids - they would of course be different. But time spent with an individual child is inversley proportional to number of kids! ie more kids = less time with each!

2006 Census: NSW

Interesting stats...

2006 Census QuickStats : New South Wales

Scientists Now Know: We're Not From Here!

My brother always joked I was adopted - now this takes that to a whole new meaning!

Scientists Now Know: We're Not From Here!

Chinese Surname Shortage

Chinese surname shortage sparks rethink - Yahoo! News:
"BEIJING (AFP) - With more than a billion people now sharing just 100 surnames, Chinese authorities are considering a landmark move to try to end the confusion, state media reported Tuesday."

The Blob attacks Sydney

Are you in Australia? Want this on your video enabled phone?
SMS 5869 to 19WOTGET (19928438) and for $1 you can download this to your phone!




I shot this on my N95! Edited on a (Gasp) windows machine.

Speaking as a Performing Art

I joined Toastmasters many years ago, and have been confidently speaking and presenting to people ever since. Guy Kawasaki is also a confidant speaker, and has some good points to help others.

Speaking as a Performing Art

Parents read this...

What your children need to learn (and often don't)

I'm pleased to see when I look at this list of 27 or so skills, that I think my wife and I are doing well on most fronts. Sure, we need to be there more often (working to pay bills takes time away from kids - always the conundrum). But I'm pretty comfortable our kids are working out well.

I particularly like

Enjoy life. Kids don’t have much of a problem with this, but some awareness of its importance and how to do it, even as an adult, would be helpful. Set a good example of this, and your kids will follow.

Wireless Power!

MIT discovery could unplug your iPod forever: "The latest technical advance out of MIT could dramatically change the drudgery of recharging portable devices: An MIT research team has figured out how to wirelessly illuminate an unplugged light bulb from seven feet away."

Milkmen still around?

A friend recently pointed me to this blog, and it has some good content. I found this article amazing - there are still Milkmen in England! In Australia those days are long gone. Now you go into a large, non-personal store and walk right to the back to buy milk in 3 litre containers.

Zible: "The local milkman just knocked on my door trying to drum up business"

Does digital file sharing render copyright obsolete?

BRUSSELS: When the 1980s pop star Robin Gibb writes a song these days, he says he doesn't think about whether it is copyrighted or licensed - he devotes himself to his art and lets his handlers see to its legal and financial well-being.

But when NoobishPineapple, an 18-year-old from Spearfish, South Dakota, uploads his 36-second rap video about fast food onto YouTube, he has no staff of assistants to make sure his creation is protected or paid for - and he probably doesn't care, anyway.

Does digital file sharing render copyright obsolete?

Close Call with a tree!

Cyber crime fear as online banking grows

The rapidly expanding ranks of people banking online has raised questions over whether consumers are armed to deal with the growing threat from cyber pirates.

Ooohh - "Cyber Pirates"; Buzzword Mashup!

Cyber crime fear as online banking grows - Breaking News - Business - Breaking News

My Wotnext Video

Rubiks Cube

In 1997, Richard Korf, a professor of computer science at UCLA, said that his research showed that a Rubik's cube could be solved in a median of 18 moves, and no more than 20 should be needed. However, he was not able to prove this. The lowest provable number of moves needed to solve a Rubik's cube was 27—until now. A pair of computer science researchers from Northwestern has developed a proof showing that a Rubik's cube in any configuration can be solved in 26 moves. While that is not much of an improvement, it is still mind-boggling; imagine needing only 26 moves to get from a state as unique as 1 in 43 quintillion to the solution of the puzzle.

Rubiks Cube Science

Addictive Game

Fun, addictive game

For Howard

Switching to Mac

Is this an over-reaction?

Fax error

W00t in Strine is Zazz

W00t = Zazz

Zazz

Ghost

Check out this cool virtual pc you can log into from anywhere...

One day...

My kids don't know phones with cords. They don't know Records (you know, the vinyl discs that play scratchy music), they don't even know Cat 5 cabling! Nothing is smaller than 1 Gig, and every camera has a screen to review the pic straight away. And why do you need to take "film" to process?
Geez - we were even playing charades the other day, and I made the "movie" motion - and they asked what I was doing and I had to think about it!

So - i guess this kind of product will be common place one day... Colour 3D Printer

TwitterVision Preentation

This rocks: Twittervision Presentation

Movie Spoilers don't spoil my fun

This Movie Spoiler site is great. I often can't get to the movies, but this let's me see them through others eyes. I also like it because I can read about horror movies without being frightened!

And you know, just because I've read the spoiler, I still like to go see the film.