Categories
Business Technology

Butler Group viewpoint – the year ahead 2007

Analysts at Butler Group give their viewpoint of what lies ahead in 2007 for Enterprise IT. “Will organisations look to Remote Management delivered from offshore locations? Will Radio Frequency ID tags (RFID) start to be used at the product or item level rather than on pallets and containers.”

Butler Group viewpoint – the year ahead 2007

Categories
Innovation Nature Science

Termites: Green fuel factory?

Nobel laureate Steven Chu has suggested that understanding the digestive system of termites can solve world’s energy problems. The termites turn cellulose into ethanol, releasing no more carbon than it took to produce. No more global warming due to carbon emissions.

Termite guts can save the planet

Categories
Business Innovation Technology

Ad-free free television…the future is bright

You decide what you want to watch, when you want to watch, ad-free, free, and lots of content (almost all channels in the world) – hasn’t happened yet, but Venice Project looks like a perfect kick-start. Via ars. Concept: IPTV.

Inside The Venice Project & Exclusive Screen Shots

Categories
Productivity Technology

C’mon just play this video file!

DivX, XviD, MPEG, WMV, ASF, Quicktime, Ogg, Matroska, Real, H.263 and the list goes on. What’s your favorite way to play all these files without installing multiple players? Mine:

  1. VLC media player recommended by Lifehacker too!
  2. K-Lite Codec Pack or XP Codec Pack with media player
Categories
Innovation Productivity Technology

How to prune web like a monkey

  1. Search for x on the web – Google (and others)
  2. What is x summarised and where does it fit in the big picture? – Social collaboration: Wikipedia (and other wikis)
  3. What are cool things x; in category y and/or time z? – Social collaboration: Reddit, Digg, Blogs via Technorati or WordPress top list; or RSS aggregation: Client-side (Sharpreader..) or Server-side (Reader, Bloglines..)
  • (1) is moving closer to (2) and (3) with searchmash.
  • (2) is moving closer to (1) with Wikiasari.
  • (3) seems independent at the moment – any opportunities to move closer to (1) or (2)?
Categories
Innovation Productivity Technology

Your own ‘free’ ‘hosted’ wiki!

Want a wiki for your own project? Can’t be bothered to have your own LAMP setup, hardware/networking resources, admin. security and authentication? And, certainly not bothered to choose amongst 50+ wiki software? Wikipedia founder’s latest venture, backed by several famous angel investors – Wikia is for you! Via PCMag.

Wikia

Categories
Art History Meta

Hardening of the categories

“If you have a tendency to procrastinate, at least do the most enjoyable thing first”. Thanks to Matthew for the recommendation.

A matter of opinion by Roger Hicks

Categories
Health Nature Science Technology

Science mag: Breakthrough of the year

No prizes for guessing the top entry, it’s proof for Poincaré Conjecture.  The runners-up are thus more interesting. Original link via BBC.

Breakthrough of the year: The Runners-up

Categories
Innovation Science Technology

Heavier weight ≠ greater energy cost

Researchers at University of Pennsylvania have developed a backpack which makes one feel ‘86% reduction’ in the weight being carried. A bungee system keeps the weight suspended at the same height above the ground while the carrier is walking or running, [resulting in a constant potential energy for the suspended weight] hence reducing the strain on the body. Innovative!

Bungee-Powered Backpack Can Lighten Your Load

Categories
Productivity Technology

WYSIWYG vs. WYSIWYM or Cool TeX Document Processor

Ok, I confess I’ve been late to discover TeX; and merely few decades since it first came out 🙂 I knew about its existence for some time, but never seriously bought into the idea i.e., actually use it myself for some real work. After reading first two pages of LyX Introduction, I’m fully convinced – WYSIWYM >> WYSIWYG; and I’m going to use it from now on!

In case you hit the same installation problem on Windows as I did, here is the solution to it.  Also, to change default font from ugly bitmap font to outline font, simply use \usepackage{lmodern} or\usepackage{times} in the document preamble.

Thanks to Piyush for the recommendation.

LyX