Presidents, Well Known or Not, Will Have Their Day on a Dollar - New York Times

Presidents, Well Known or Not, Will Have Their Day on a Dollar - New York Times: "The United States Mint is unveiling four designs for one-dollar coins today, featuring likenesses of the first four presidents. They begin a series that is to last a decade and portray every deceased president."

Ask Will : New and Cool for VS2005

I gave a presentation on new and cool things for Visual Studio 2005 at the Capital City .NET User's Group meeting yesterday and presented a number of free and/or open source utilities for VS 2005. Here are the links and some commentary on each item I presented.

Birds and bees may be gay: museum exhibition | Tech&Sci | Science | Reuters.com

Birds and bees may be gay: museum exhibition | Tech&Sci | Science | Reuters.com: "(Reuters) - The birds and the bees may be gay, according to the world's first museum exhibition about homosexuality among animals."

Neuro Linguistic Programming

Neuro-Linguistic Programming – or NLP – is a technique that we can use to alter the way we react. NLP looks at the relationship between how we think -neuro, communicate -linguistic and behave -programming.

Comic Strips

Wired News: It's Alive (ish)

Wired News: It's Alive (ish): "Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology figured they could learn more from neuron clumps that acted more like real brains, so they've developed 'neurally controlled animats' -- a few thousand rat neurons grown atop a grid of electrodes and connected to a robot body or computer-simulated virtual environment."

Invisibility Cloak

VVV - Viridian Vegan Viking: "Check out this video of an Invisibility Cloak being demonstrated at the University of Tokyo.
The wearer is moving in front of a television screen and colored backgrounds.
Observe that his face is not covered by the wallpaper background displayed on the cloak.
Very impressive. Plus, he has mad dance moves."

Trends: 3D. What is it good for?

Trends: 3D. What is it good for?

Some VERY interesting Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality Interface, Holographic, and other real world inventions and prototypes being developed and coming soon to a store near you :)

Project - Keio Media Design Okude Laboratory

Project - Keio Media Design Okude Laboratory: "At the laboratory, much team project is produced every year and its idea is made into the form.
The project which students created is introduced."

Walt Handelsman: N.S.A. Wiretapping

Walt Handelsman: N.S.A. Wiretapping: "Walt Handelsman: N.S.A. Wiretapping"

Animated political cartoon on NSA eavesdropping. And a song, too.

William's Code Camp Presentations (Tally)

Here's the code camp presentations I gave June 17th, 2006 in Tallahassee, FL.

GameSpot Forums - PC Games - reasons why it's worth to be a PCgamer in 2007

GameSpot Forums - PC Games - reasons why it's worth to be a PCgamer in 2007: "
Below is a comprehensive list of all(at least I think so)promising PCgames slated for 2007 release.By 'promising' I mean games with big chances of scoring at least AA, while extremely small chances of scoring below 7. I've tried choosing only games made by experienced developers(who made good games in the past) or for other reasons promising."

'Mind over matter' no longer science fiction

'Mind over matter' no longer science fiction: "Sitting stone still under a skull cap fitted with a couple dozen electrodes, American scientist Peter Brunner stares at a laptop computer. Without so much as moving a nostril hair, he suddenly begins to compose a message -- letter by letter -- on a giant screen overhead.


'B-O-N-J-O-U-R' he writes with the power of his mind, much to the amazement of the largely French audience of scientists and curious onlookers gathered at the four-day European Research and Innovation Exhibition in Paris, which opened Thursday. "

Wired News: A Sixth Sense for a Wired World

Wired News: A Sixth Sense for a Wired World:

"What if, seconds before your laptop began stalling, you could feel the hard drive spin up under the load? Or you could tell if an electrical cord was live before you touched it? For the few people who have rare earth magnets implanted in their fingers, these are among the reported effects -- a finger that feels electromagnetic fields along with the normal sense of touch."

"Other sensations were unmistakable from the start. I would circle my finger with a strong magnet and feel the one in my finger spin. In time, bits of my laptop became familiar as tingles and buzzes. Every so often I would pass near something and get an unexpected vibration."

Mysterious red cells might be aliens

As bizarre as it may seem, the sample jars brimming with cloudy, reddish rainwater in Godfrey Louis's laboratory in southern India may hold, well, aliens.

Gays Not The Origin of HIV

Gays Not The Origin of HIV: "Gays Not The Origin of HIV
After 25 years of speculation, an international scientific team has traced the origin of HIV to wild chimpanzees in a remote area of Cameroon, Africa. The first human to be infected with the virus is believed to be a hunter who came into contact (by bite or cut) with an infected chimp. In the early 80s, HIV was seen as a gay disease or a 'rare cancer that affected homosexuals' as stated in the documentary Gay Sex in the 70s. So, why is the link between chimps and HIV an important discovery? In the wake of the AIDS pandemic, it's crucial that we all realize HIV/AIDS can affect anyone, not just gay people. And though there is still no cure for AIDS, learning the origin of the deadly virus may bring us one step closer to saving countless lives."

Home - 2006 Tallahassee .NET CodeCamp - 2nd Annual

I'll be speaking at the
Home - 2006 Tallahassee .NET CodeCamp - 2nd Annual: Tallahassee .NET CodeCamp #2

All day Saturday, June 17th
FSU, Tallahassee, FL

ZUG: Comedy Articles: Electronic Road Signs and Me

ZUG: Comedy Articles: Electronic Road Signs and Me: "I found a deliciously inviting handheld keypad, then took a wild guess and pushed a button labeled STOP. The display on the control box flashed ENTER PASSWORD. I was about to give up in disgust when I noticed that someone had written the password in large Sharpie lettering above the box.

I entered the password, and lo! The sign ceased its flashing and turned itself off. SELECT FUNCTION, the keypad blinked, and great was my joy!"

ANPR Surveillance Helicopter Tested

ANPR Surveillance Helicopter Tested: "Within the U.S., two cities are using the technology in a device called 'Bootfinder' to identify and tow vehicles with unpaid parking tickets or even overdue library books. One woman's car in Connecticut was towed out of her driveway because she had $85 in unpaid parking tickets. Legislation is pending in Texas to allow the use of RFID to scan and ticket passing motorists who have expired automobile insurance."

Crypto-Gram: May 15, 2005

Crypto-Gram: May 15, 2005: "The United States will get a national ID card. The REAL ID Act establishes uniform standards for state driver's licenses, to go into effect in three years, effectively creating a national ID card. It's a bad idea, and is going to make us all less safe. It's also very expensive. And it all happened without any serious debate in Congress."

Skype - The whole world can talk for free.

Skype - The whole world can talk for free.

Skype just made all calls free. Previously you had to buy credits which were already very inexpensive. I wondered what eBay was going to do with Skype :)

So, to reiterate. Anyone in the US or Canada can download skype for free, register for free, and CALL for free to anyone in the United States or Canada for the rest of the year.

This is likely a market test to see what happens. However, we might be looking at the new "gMail for phones", brought to you by skype and ebay...

THE 1 SECOND FILM

Be a film producer for $1


THE 1 SECOND FILM

The Goog-le domain is up for sale on eBay !

The goog-le.com is up for sale on eBay. I know the guy who owns this domain personally. He's a very, very cool guy who I'm sure could really use some traffic and bids. Can I get the digg community to generate some interest, please ?
Plus, that's GOT to be a great name to register. Who knows, maybe google will see it and make a decent offer :)

read more | digg story

Internet under Attack by Renegade Spammer; Blue Security Responds; Blue Security Identifies ``PharmaMaster'' as the Illegal Spammer Who is Threatening

Internet under Attack by Renegade Spammer; Blue Security Responds; Blue Security Identifies ``PharmaMaster'' as the Illegal Spammer Who is Threatening the Internet to Keep His Spam Business Running

'World's oldest person' turns 128 - Americas - MSNBC.com

'World's oldest person' turns 128 - Americas - MSNBC.com: "SAN AGUSTIN, El Salvador - Friends and relatives of Cruz Hernandez’s gathered Wednesday to celebrate her 128th birthday, a milestone that might make her the world’s oldest person.

Hernandez, who relatives say spends most of her time dozing and no longer speaks, was surrounded by some 200 people at her party, some bearing a cake and others dressed as Salvadoran mythological heroes.

According to national records, Hernandez was born on May 3, 1878, in one of the country’s central provinces, where she gave birth to 13 children. She now has 60 grandchildren, 80 great-grandchildren and 25 great-great grandchildren."

Marbles! - Best of Google Video

Marbles! - Best of Google Video

Hehehe... Marbles (first video) is so fun :)

Marbles! - Best of Google Video

Marbles! - Best of Google Video

Hehehe... Marbles (first video) is so fun :)

Comic Strips

The oondocks

Minority Cube : Reality Virtualized

Quasimondo : Incubator : Processing : Minority Cube: "If you've seen the movie Minority Report you probably remember the impressing gesture based computer interface that Tom Cruise uses. Well, my experiment here is far from that, but nevertheless quite entertaining I think:

Minority Cube allows you to control the rotation of the cube on the screen by moving your hand (or yourself) in front of your webcam. It understands up, down, left, right and screw (a motion a bit like if you're trying to screw a light bulb into your webcam's lens). If you don't have a webcam attached you will not be able to move it, I'm sorry. You might have to experiment a bit what's the best lighting situation, distance of your hand and motion speed."

Password Chart

Password Chart

Thought this was interesting enough to post:


How do I use this?

1. Enter a chart selection phrase to select one of over 4 billion possible password charts.
Examples: "what me worry?" or "I like green eggs and ham" or "My name is Indigo Montoya"
2. Enter an easy to remember password that you want to convert to a hard to guess password.
3. Use the resulting converted password as the password on any of the bazillion websites you visit.
4. At any time in the future return here, enter the same phase and password to retrieve your hard to guess password.


Why should I use this?

1. Picking and remembering strong passwords is a pain. It's easier to convert an easy to remember one.
2. It works on any computer and if you print out the chart it also works offline.
3. Its free, easy and secure. Everything is done in your browser -- no passwords are sent over the Internet.

Black Holes Don't Exist?

Black Holes Don't Exist?: "Dark energy and dark matter, two of the greatest mysteries confronting physicists, may be two sides of the same coin. A new and as yet undiscovered kind of star could explain both phenomena and, in turn, remove black holes from the lexicon of cosmology."

US Government Studies Open Source Quality

US Government Studies Open Source Quality: "anadgouda writes 'US Department of Homeland Security has released a report on open source quality in an effort to study the security of open source. 31 popular open source packages were studied as part of this effort. From the article: 'Coverity's report, Stacking up the LAMP stack: a study of open source quality, was produced as part of a $1.24m, three-year DHS Science and Technology Directorate effort to evaluate and improve the security of open source.''"

Microsoft Origami Video and Pics!

Microsoft Origami Video and Pics!: "Somebody from a digital marketing firm leaked their promotional Microsoft Origami video... So Kevin took a few screen shots for us! It looks like a mini tablet PC - nothing more, nothing less."

My Web 2.0 Presentation

Here is a PowerPoint presentation I wrote for a lecture I gave on web 2.0. You can open it in OpenOffice and I'll be writing a standard web page version of it very soon.

Kevin Kelly -- Chapter 2: Hive Mind

Kevin Kelly -- Chapter 2: Hive Mind

Kevin Kelly -- Chapter 2: Hive Mind

Kevin Kelly -- Chapter 2: Hive Mind

Sleep A Thing Of The Past

Sleep A Thing Of The Past: "New drugs which will allow people to survive on only two hours sleep a day are being developed, scientists have said. The drugs will allow people to cope with the pressures of 24-hour society."