There’s been a lot of hype lately regarding invisibility (cloaking) technologies. It’s amazing how, for years, scientists have been trying to create cloaking devices/clothes without success and now suddenly there are so many different technologies that achieve more or less the same result. Here is a very interesting review of cloaking technologies. (via Digg)
Microsoft Paint Videos
Microsoft Paint, which comes with every copy of Windows since about the beginning of time, must be the most generic drawing application in the world. So naturally this means that some people have to show their ability to create Photoshop-like pictures by using Paint alone, a task for those with great patience and quite a lot of talent. Here are some sped-up videos that show these abilities:
Prison vs. Work Comparison
Just a quick and funny link to a comparison between prison and work. (via Digg)
The 21 Biggest Technology Flops by Computerworld
Computerworld published a 21 items long list of the biggest technology flops. Most of them I remember, some of them were gone even before I realized there was a technology world. I even remember thinking that some were good ideas at the time. It’s an interesting read.
It’s amazing how Microsoft Bob gets a spot in these “flops” lists :) (via Digg)
The Browser OS – Using Online Instead Of Desktop Applications
lifehack.org (main website link) posted an article on how they use online applications instead of desktop applications, the idea being that it doesn’t matter any more which operating system is running on your computer since you can have all your applications online including Office-type applications, backup, file management and so on.
I believe it’s an over-simplification, but the idea is appealing. I do think that we will have more of our applications online and maybe in the near future all our files will be online, but currently the desktop experience is still important to most users. Generally speaking, I adopt Jeff Atwood position in his post Are Web Interfaces “Good Enough”? (via Digg)
It’s April Fools’ Day on The Internet (also In Real Life, but Who Cares)
April Fools’ day on the Internet begins with Google’s Gmail Paper initiative. Have your emails freely distributed on paper by Google, who will add some advertisements on the back of the paper. Great joke from Google. See for yourselves.
UPDATE 1: Google continues with Google TiSP, the broadband system for your home, going right through your toilet to a snorkeling PHD (Plumbing Hardware Dispatcher) person in the TiSP access node, who will connect you. You have see the installation instructions to understand.
UPDATE 2: Slashdot also started posting April Fools’ day articles, one of which is that the Mozilla Foundation is suing Microsoft over tabbed browsing, which causes Microsoft to contemplate shipping a special version of IE7 named IE7 NT (No Tabs) :-)
Interview With Raymond Chen (Audio)
I’ve written about Raymond Chen and his popular blog a few times before. He’s a brilliant Microsoft employee, who writes about “serious” stuff like how to use some of Windows’ API, while also including nice stories from Microsoft’s past (plus some other stuff, which always shows how much you can learn from him).
This time I’m writing about him because there’s a podcast online where you can listen to him getting interviewed about the blog, his new book and Microsoft.
Did you know that every copy of Windows XP includes Microsoft Bob (Wikipedia definition)? I didn’t. If you have an original Windows CD and you can pound on your keyboard with your hand in a very specific way, you can get to the Microsoft Bob installation on the CD :)
I guess you have to listen to the podcast to know why I’m saying that.
UPDATE: Raymond Chen was interviewed previously on another show. It’s also very funny for Windows developers with a bit of sense of history. Here it is.
Demetri Martin’s “The Jokes With Guitar” Video
I love Demetri Martin’s humor, so although I posted some videos of his shows before here’s another one. (via Digg)
The Ten Principles Of Economics, Translated (Video)
Yoram Bauman, Ph.D., is a self proclaimed stand-up economist. He even has the domain http://www.standupeconomist.com. Here’s a video where he explains Mankiw’s famous Ten Principles of Economicsin very simple and funny words.
Cool Advertisements Collection
For today – just a nice collection of very cool advertisements (as you can see – I don’t have much time to write stuff lately).