Do you think black toilet paper is chic and elegant? A company called Renova does.
Slashdot
As Slashdot‘s title declares, it’s a website about “news for nerds, stuff that matters”. It’s one of the busiest websites on the Internet. So busy that if a news item contains a link in Slashdot, then the phenomenon of Slashdot reader clicking the link and killing the target server is called Slashdotting.
But it’s not just the main items that are a good read. Some of the comments by the readers (which get promoted or demoted by other users, and therefore you get to see the good ones) are sometimes very interesting or funny.
Download Squad
Download Squad is a downloads blog, which highlights all kinds of software that is out there, some software related news and time wasters. I got to some pretty interesting and useful software through this blog, and that’s why it’s on my RSS feed list.
How to do nothing
wikiHow is a website where you can find how-tos – instructions, step by step, on how to do stuff. For example, how to avoid registration in a website using BugMeNot or how to get out of debt. But this one really made me laugh: how to do nothing. And they are dead serious on explaining how to do it.
On a side note, if someone asked me how to do nothing, I would have to say: have nothing else better to do.
Sub 100$ Laptop
MIT Media Labs has come up with a design for a sub 100$ notebook computer. It is intended for developing countries. It’s a pretty novel idea. As the computer will eventually include Wi-Fi, I wouldn’t mind buying one myself. You can read about it in this BBC News report.
Domino Pressure
I’ve been playing Domino Pressure every now and then for the past two months. It’s pretty challenging. The goal is to tip the right domino (by clicking it), so that it will cause all the other dominos to fall and eventually squash the tomato. My record is around level 105. Enjoy.
How I started listening to The Prodigy
Around 1992 there was a radio station in Israel called “Zahal 2”. It broadcasted, among other things, alternative music and at that time some electronic music. Trance music was not even defined as Trance music back then. Anyway, all electronic music was either categorized as “Techno” or “Rave”. Under both categories, The Prodigy’s Out Of Space and Charly were broadcasted. I used to really like those tracks, but in Israel you couldn’t (and in fact still can’t) buy any singles, so your options were either buying the album of the band, or a compilation of songs with the song you’re looking for in it.
Lacking any direction in music, I was a serial buyer of compilations. It doesn’t mean that I bought a lot of them – CDs were pretty expensive, and as a teenager I couldn’t afford as many as I wanted. One day my older brother, who really liked pop music and generally introduced me to the idea of listening to the radio, told me that I should buy an album of a band instead of a compilation and get some direction.
I pondered it a lot, went to the CD store a couple of times returning empty-handed. But one day I did it – I bought my first ever album of a band. It was The Prodigy Experience. I’m a big fan since. I doubt it that that was my brother’s intension.
Lobster Vending Machine
Engadget brings us this weird lobster vending machine. I’ll have to see it with my own eyes to believe.
The Prodigy
The Prodigy is my all time favorite band. They are simply the best band in the world. The Prodigy are a trio: Liam Howlett, Keith Flint and Maxim. Liam, who makes all of The Prodigy’s music, is a genius and a true master.
The Prodigy’s latest album is called “Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned” (AONO). It came after a long 7 year silence, which happened because of Liam’s writer’s block. But the album is brilliant and was worth the wait. Also, by all reports, The Prodigy’s live act is back rocking as hard as ever.
During October a “best of” album will be released, and will be named (after a great track) “Their Law”. Therefore, I declare October as Prodigy month for this blog. I’ll theme this blog a little accordingly, and mention some stuff about The Prodigy. I might even start earlier than October, being excited and all.
Some links to Prodigy stuff:
Official website
nekosite, the website for Prodigy’s number one fan. Look inside the forums. A lot of stuff there.
Brainkiller, where you can download some tracks and videos
TheProdigy.nl, another place for downloads
Palm will switch to Windows Mobile on next Treo version
It’s the end of an era. One of the most successful smartphones ever, the Palm Treo, will switch, on its next version, to the Microsoft Windows Mobile operating system instead of the Palm OS.
I really like Palm. I used to own a Palm Pilot III and today I own a Palm Tungsten T. It is well known that the Palm company has gone through a lot of changes and restructuring over the past few years and made quite a lot of mistakes along the way. But this is a real shame. Palm OS is a good, solid, user-friendly, oriented towards simplicity while saving battery life operating system.
Microsoft is, of course, celebrating the event. On Microsoft’s homepage you can see this image. All that they have left to do is a victory dance, then buy Palm and fire all of the employees.
I wonder what the Treo with Windows Mobile will have to offer that other Windows-based smartphones don’t already have. It better be good.