Microsoft Surface - The Future is here (SarcasticGamer.com productions!)

A REAL MUST SEE!

(A sarcastic gamer.com productions but really neat nevertheselss)

One day, your computer will be a kickass table, with other pictures and videos and superb applications all over it in a neat technology by Microsoft - Ms Surface.

(In case you're reading it in an RSS feed, you'll have to come to the blog see the video).

The new table computer! the future is here! watch the video:

iPhone - Interesting technology, bet u d'nt know

Many of the features in Apple's new iPhone will be under-appreciated, including the accelerometer, ambient light sensor, and infrared sensor, all of which are used to gather information from the environment and adjust the phone's functions.

The iPhone can automatically change the screen from portrait to landscape, adjust the screen's brightness based on light levels in the environment, and disable the touch screen when the phone is being used for a call.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology research scientist Nathan Eagle says that although these functions are useful and entertaining, they are rather unremarkable for the technology in the iPhone. "These are trivial uses for what has the potential to provide a whole slew of new features and functionality," Eagle says.

Independent research projects at MIT, Intel, and other companies indicate that phones built with hardware such as accelerometers, light sensors, a GPS, and a microphone could provide clues about people's activities and behaviors. Such a phone could monitor exercise habits, track an elderly relative's activities, and let friends and family know if it is an appropriate time to call or instant message the phone's owner.

At Intel Labs, researchers equipped first-year students at University of Washington with an accelerometer, barometer, a humidity sensor, a thermometer, a light sensor, a digital compass, and a microphone and were able to watch social networks form as subjects with the sensors interacted.

Eagle says it would not be difficult to write consumer software that would deduce a person's basic activities, which could be used to update the status listed on an instant messenger program or a blog, for example.

Read here

Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year

Something to Ponder over. (Note that this may be true more for CRTs than other displays, but nevertheless quite thought provoking).

Blackle.com is a site that is powered by google search (custom search). What it means is that the search you do there is actually google search displayed in a different, dark colour scheme. Why would you want something like that? Here are some reasons for starters:

An all white web page uses 74 Watts
An all black web page uses 59 Watts
Google gets 200million queries a day
Assuming each query takes 10 sec
Google runs for 555000 hrs per day (Its running simultaneously on many PCs - A Cluster)
So a shift from White to Black would save a total of 74-59=15 Watts, which would in turn lead to global savings of 8.3MegaWatt-hrs per day, or 3000MegaWatt-hrs per year.

And for those of you still not convinced, well, it seems soothing for the eyes, if nothing else ;-)

Check it out

Hugh Hefner Unveils “iPlayboy” for iPhone

No joke: Hugh Hefner today unveiled iPlayboy, “a collection of hot pics, video and sounds specifically tailored to your new iPhone.”

iPlayboy is, according to Playboy.com, “the next best thing to having Playmates on speed dial.” Now you pervs can take your materials with you wherever you go. :lol: But don’t get too excited: all the iPlayboy media is non-nude.

Who hasn’t capitalized on the iPhone hype these days?

Fedora 7 - comments of a spectator

Fedora 7 helps to convince me that the time when the major GNU/Linux distributions were distinctive is rapidly passing. These days, innovation seems centered on the desktop or the individual program. Major distributions have become so mature that their role is mostly integration, and they are starting to look increasingly the same.

Not long ago, Fedora was known for such firsts as implementing a philosophically free Java that allowed users to take full advantage of OpenOffice.org's features, and adding SELinux for enhanced security. Now, Fedora 7 is simply a well-rounded distribution designed for beginners, and its technical innovations are mostly minor.

Not that innovation isn't happening behind the scenes. At the release management level, Fedora 7 is the first release to merge the Fedora Core and Fedora Extras package repositories under one set of packaging policies (which explains the change of name from "Fedora Core" to plain "Fedora"). Moreover, according to Fedora chair Max Spevack, Fedora 7 is the first release in which all the software used is released under a free license, and all decision-making is made in public. In addition, Fedora 7 is the first release to benefit from the fully organized testing sub-project that was established last year under Will Woods.

However, little of these changes are observable to the average user at the desktop. If Test 4, the release candidate used in this review is any indication, what Fedora offers from a user's perspective is a mature product at every stage, from installation to the desktop through to software installation and security. Rather than being radically new, much of Fedora 7 is a legacy of features -- many polished, a few flawed -- that has been slowly built up during successive releases.

Puzzles Will Save the World

Martin Demaine, an artist-in-residence at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, believes that puzzles can save the world!!!

This has been substantiated by the fact that alternative ways of solving problems have already made cars safer, candies easier to unwrap, and may one day help cure diseases.

Research, and computer science in general is a type of riddle.

"For me, the excitement is to solve a puzzle that's never been solved before," Demaine says. "As a researcher, you don't solve things that have been done; you ask questions, you create puzzles."

Demaine and his colleagues, which includes his son Erik who is also on the faculty at the MIT lab, have used puzzles and games to make important contributions to engineering, computer science, and mathematics.

An example is the "fold and cut" problem, which asks if there is a way to fold a piece of paper so that making a single cut can create a hole of any given shape.

The Demaines created a solution that has since been used in the manufacturing of car air bags.

The MIT researchers are also working on folding nanostructures, which could be described as DNA origami. Martin Demaine says that if protein-folding can be understood, it would be possible to design proteins to cure diseases. The purpose of the Demaines' research is not to create applications, but to show there are more efficient ways to build things and that research can be fun. "Puzzles will save the world," Demaine says.

Lets hope it does! And while they get busy in creating puzzles lets just ponder over what kind of future awaits us.

Apple's iPhone - Hidden features

Alright...Its 27th June....the release date is approaching and the world is going ga-ga over the iPhone. Before you drown yourself in the countless reviews that follow, here's something for an interesting read ;)

Apparently, Apple Inc is secretly working on a draft plan to release a customised iPhone to capture the Indian market. Mutiny.in has obtained some exclusive information about a ’special button’ that activates a plethora of amazing features.

Special Features:
MMSi
Miss-call Management Service Integrated allows you to make calls to friends without giving them a milli-second to pick up your call.

IRK
Irritating Ringtone Killer allows you drain the battery of the offending phones in your area.

MVMS
Misleading Voice Message Generator plays auto generated voice messages to your boss/parents/wife leading them to think that your phone is busy or out of coverage area.

GPMS
Gutter & Pothole Manouevering System gives you updated reports on the size, depth and physical state of gutters and potholes on your way to work.

EFDM
Emergency Feign Death Mode is activated automatically once a user in your STL (Suspicious Tresspasser List) like your dad or mom attempts to access the recent call history or some private folders.

RCWWP
Replace Current Wallpaper with Wife’s Photo mode is well, self-explanatory.

BCPWS
Bulk Conversion of all Pirated Windows Softwares is included considering public demand.

Note: Requests to imprint the price of the phone on the back will be considered in the next release.