Tomorrow's Coolest Gadgets

source

Some coolest gadgets yet to hit the shelves! Things that caught me on the list...

Philips Momento
A very cool display gadget which has no controls. Hope they are kids friendly and these devices will definitely improve the interactivity in kids. Probably they make it show different clips with different kind of shakes.

Microsoft Dsharp Monitor
Wow! That'd be damn cool and (ahem!) increase the productivity. Microsoft claims from 9% to 50% increase in productivity when using multiple monitors. I'd definitely love to have a big screen to look on.

Intel Viiv
It's pronunced like 'five'. What interests me more is the claimed instant startup and shutdown times. I really hate when computers take ages to boot up or shutdown.

later...

Quotes

• It has recently been discovered that research causes cancer in laboratory rats


• If you can read this, I can hit my brakes and sue you


• Black holes are where God divided by zero


• Cover me. I'm changing lanes


• As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in schools


• I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather; not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car


• Warning: Dates in Calendar are closer than they appear


• We are born naked, wet and hungry. Then things get worse


• He who laughs last thinks slowest


• Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else


• Very funny, Scotty. Now beam down my clothes


• We are Microsoft. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated

and my favorite...

• There are only 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't

later...

83...9..6..2 Mona Lisa's expressions

What are these numbers? It's the decoded the famous Mona Lisa's expressions. Using emotion-recognition software, the expressions are decoded as...

83 % happy
9 % disgusted
6 % fearful
2 % angry

link

...and now what are they going to do with this?

later...

Windows RUN Shortcuts...

link: RUN command shortcuts [if that doesn't work try here]

Shortcuts are always my favorite for three reasons, one they get you faster than the conventional way and two they are cool and three well they are cool :-) Of the shortcuts mentioned by Vinod Kumar, my favorites are...

• Add/Remove Programs : appwiz.cpl


• Calculator : calc


• Character Map : charmap


• Command Prompt : cmd


• Computer Management : compmgmt.msc


• Device Manager : devmgmt.msc


• Display Properties : control desktop


• Display Properties : desk.cpl


• Event Viewer : eventvwr.msc


• Fonts Folder : fonts


• Hearts Card Game : mshearts


• Logs You Out Of Windows : logoff


• Minesweeper Game : winmine


• Notepad : notepad


• On Screen Keyboard : osk


• Registry Editor : regedit32


• Remote Desktop : mstsc


• Scheduled Tasks : control schedtasks


• Services : services.msc


• Shuts Down Windows : shutdown


• Spider Solitare Card Game : spider


• System Configuration Utility : msconfig


• Task Manager : taskmgr <-- even faster shortcut is the key combination CTRL+SHIFT+ESC


• Windows Magnifier : magnify <-- Now I use the cool utility from the Microsoft Intellimouse software


• Wordpad : write


• Remote Desktop : mstsc [remote to console: mstsc /console]

its fun with shortcuts.

later...

Windowless SELECT (HTML)

link: For the SELECT few...

For a long long time in the IE world, the HTML SELECT element (the combo and list box) troubled the developers by not adhering to the Z-index, which created un-desirable behaviors especially with the DHTML menus. The reason for the SELECT element not to adhere to the Z-index is that it is a shell control. From the link above, in the new IE7 (under development), the SELECT element is re-written as a pure HTML control and it's going to obey the Z-indexes :-) But I guess the developers are not relieved as there are (and will be) many users still using IE5, IE6 and many other browsers. There should a patch targeting these versions to upgrade the rendering of SELECT element. Nonetheless this is a great feature!

later...

Project Gotham Racing 3 - How real it is

source: Real vs. Game: Project Gotham Racing 3

I've experienced the reality of Project Gotham Racing 3 on the XBox 360 over my friend's place [yet to accquire one, Microsoft speed up the manufacturing process!], but the images from the above site is astonishing. It clearly shows the commitment of the PGR team to bring the city of Tokyo alive. Great!

later...

Finally an add-on FM receiver for the iPod

link

One of the main feature [at least for me] in a portable music player is the ability to listen to FM radio. The market leader iPod doesn't seem to budge in this area for a long time, it's obvious that Apple wants it's iTunes to sell music and not some FM stations. After repetitive requests, there is a new add-on to Nanos and iPod Videos which bring FM capability. Will this make me to switch to iPod? Hmm...I've been seeing some really nice competition from Philips and Creative. Still waiting to make choice.

Update: My friend Raga responded after reading this...

It looks like it is a still an ‘Add-On’ and not an ‘in-built’ feature of IPOD.
That would suck, as you will have to shell out more 30-40 bucks to buy the
add-on and it would make the usage clumsier!

That's true would people buy the add-on and make their usage clumsier? I guess so, that's been the success for Apple!

later...

Got a computer recently...check this out

Five steps to secure your new computer before going into the wild world of inter-connected madness, yeah I'm just describing the internet. It is useful but at the same time if we're not careful, our system may turn up crap hosting spyware, malware, viruses and trojans. Prevention is better than cure!

later

Another logo change, this time it is Kodak

I grew up seeing the Kodak logo for most of the time as my Dad is in the photography business. Would sure miss the logo, bye bye old K.



later...

Vulnerabilities in OS

link

Tallies kept by the U.S. government's computer security group show that Linux and Unix operating systems faced nearly three times the number of vulnerabilities in 2005 than did Microsoft's often-maligned Windows.

In the US-CERT (United Stated Computer Emergency Readiness Team) year-end vulnerability summary, Linux/Unix accounted for a whopping 2,328 vulnerabilities, about 45 percent of the 5,198 total.

Windows, on the other hand, sported just 812 vulnerabilities during the year, said US-CERT, or 16 percent of the total.

Good to know that somebody's keeping tallies of all the vulnerabilities. I was under the impression that Windows OS is the most attacked OS and has lot of vulnerability, but thanks to the new security features in Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP and the Automatic Updates, it is less vulnerable than before. I feel already safe and if you're thinking about the latest WMF vulnerability in Windows see How to stay safe with the new Windows vulnerability for a quick fix until the updates kick in.

later...

Tamil Nadu - top Asian region of the future

link

fDi - Foreign Direct Investment magazine, adjudged Tamil Nadu (my home state in India) as the region of the future edging ahead of New South Wales of Australia. That's one more thing to be proud of Tamil Nadu!

later...