Frank Herbert's Moisture traps

Dune is a great novel. If you haven't read Dune by Frank Herbert yet - go and read it! Even though I've read it quite a few years ago, and read some of its sequels, it is very interesting to read that some of Herbert's ideas might become a reality.

This Slashdot article is very interesting as it points to a possible use to the moisture traps described in Dune.

This is yet another example of how ideas spawned in the SciFi world might make its way into the real world.

From the pages of a SciFi novel to concept works and perhaps later into real-life versions of the inventions, the ideas of our SciFi authors are making their way over.

See also the reference from Stanford.

Is Laserbeak about to be invented?

When I started reading this article I thought "hey, that could be cool". Just a few miliseconds later - that could be REALLY cool, since that is exactly what Laserbeak from the Transformers used to do.

Sure, it might still be in the development stage, but it's cool that during you lifetime, characters and ideas from the cartoons you grew-up with are becoming reality.

Last.fm shuts down the cool webapps

Last.fm used to be a great site for music fans. It used to be a great way to listen to music online, without having to fret over logging in or doing anything other than picking a musician or artist you like, and it would just play.

I liked it so much that for a long time I've had a web-app as part of the main page of the blog. The web-app was simple: if you click on it, it would start playing songs by Norah Jones and other similar artists.

It's really sad that they have taken the whole web-apps off the net. I've heard a lot of rumors, and read a lot of things online as to what's been happening over there in the past several months.

Perhaps some day, the site will regain its old reputation as being a cool music website online. For now, the need to log in, and the shutting off of the web-apps are complete disappointing.

Sugar Delirium

Sugar Delirium is an interesting site that shows you different foods and how much sugar (or the equivalent thereof) is in that food.

It actually is very informative in the way it conveys the information - the picture of the product along with sugar cubes to represent the amount of sugar in that product.

100 DVD's on 1 disc

When the new data storage standard that GE is working on will get to mass production, the world of data storage will never be the same. Think about it - 100 DVD's worth of information stored on one disc.

Sure, discs aren't the best media to store data on - the are susceptible to rust and decay, and have a lifespan of only a few years, but as a temporary or short term data storage - they do wonders.

Just thinking about the scale - 100 DVD's on one disc, is astounding.

That is, of course, only as long as it will reach mass production any time soon. With the new standards for SD that are due to arrive in a year or two (according to some reports), and allow huge amounts of data storage on a single card, discs as storage devices will have a hard time, to say the least.

Susan Boyle gets a standing ovation

If you have yet to see the amazing performance Susan Boyle gave on the show Britain's Got Talent, you have to see it ASAP.

Why? Her performance gives us all an example of so many things we have forgotten. Starting from 'You can't judge a book by its cover' to how we perceive ourselves, the spectacular performance by Susan Boyle leaves you with your mouth open in awe, and a tingling sensation in your spine.

When she was asked about who she is and where she's from, how old she is, and the TV cameras took notice of various faces and frowns in the crowd, no one guessed or expected for Susan to actually live up to her own high standards (as famous as Elaine Paige).

That look on peoples, the look you saw in the audience as well as in the judges own faces, when they heard Susan start to sing, is a testament to many things we have forgotten.

We have forgotten to give people a chance, regardless of anything we might think of them, where they are from, or how old they are.

We have forgotten that people can succeed in what they do, that they can make their dreams come true, no matter how old they are and how many naysayers they have to face along the way.

This is a definite slap-in-the-face, a wake-up call of sorts. We need to smarten up, and sooner so, the better.

You can see the standing ovation yourself, at the link, or just have a look at all the views she's getting on Youtube alone.


If you are interested in reading more about it, I found an article about it by Tanya Gold in the Guardian.

Textual designs

I found an interesting link about 3D text designs which could be very inspirational to any designer and webbuilder.

There are many different styles on display, though some share common factors.

Ways to make your laptop's battery last longer

A post on TechRadar about 7 ways to make your laptop battery last longer (found via Digg) is an interesting list, and brings forward something we might be taking for granted - A lot of people are using their laptops as main computers. Has this changed the way we use computers?

Firstly, there is the fundamental change - the mobility. You can take your computer with you in a backpack, and pop it on in a Starbucks near you, and work there. You can go and sit at any place that offers free Wi-Fi access.

That mobility is dependent on power supply, be it battery or a wall socket. Since one cannot depend on finding a free power socket in every coffeeshop with Wi-Fi access, laptop users most times have to depend on their battery for power.

That is where the longevity of your battery kicks in. If it lasts a long time, enough for your surfing needs, you will not need a power socket at all. However, if it fails in the middle of your use, you would want to find an alternate power source as soon as possible.

So, what can you do? Well, you can start by checking the list on TechRadar. Another thing you can do is to check the battery life expectancy before buying a laptop, and let that be one of the determining factors of which brand and model to buy.

Firefox addons revisited

Since the launch of Firefox 3, I haven't given much blogspace to rethink the addons I use. A post in TechRadar brought it to my attention, along with some more ideas for cool addons to use.

Some of you may recall that I've described the addons I think are reccomendable a few months ago. Back then, Firefox 2 was still around for another patch or two, before the announcement came that it will no longer be patched, and all users are encouraged to upgrade to Firefox 3.

I've tried myself some of the addons in the TechRadar post, such as Tab Mix Plus, IE view, Greasemonkey and more.

However, I am unsure at how much they add to the regular user. Since the TechRadar post is aimed at power users, I can understand why they would be there. I do not, however, think that I would recommend all of them to regular users, who might question whether they should have these or not.

The resolve in this matter to the techy person in all of us is quite simple - do not hesitate to try the addons, after you've read everything there is to know about them, just because you may not necessarily consider yourself a power user. That's part of the fun that firefox is - you can install addons and uninstall if they don't suit you. In fact, you can even install an addon for a while, and later when it no longer suits your need, you can disable it or uninstall it.

Earbud Tie

Link to a clever tie, that makes you look as if you are wearing earbuds. Genius.

Not that everyone has an Ipod, or Iphone, but it's a refreshing approach to what you can wear on a tie, and how a tie can still look cool.