May 30, 2004
Thumb-Wrestling will never be the same
The humble game of thumb-wrestling may never be the same for me. A group called Monochrom has designed a war to thumb-wrestlle with lots and lots of people at once. If you have never heard of thumb-wrestling then you really need to get out of your cave, in essence it is where two people lock their fingers together exposing their thumbs. Then without unlocking their hands the players trying and force their opponents thumb to the bottom and keep it there. This is all there is.... well until now. Have a look at Monochrome's Massively Multiplayer Thumb-Wresting Site for more information on how to play this once simple game with multiple people. Monochrom even go to describing different networks of thumb-wrestling games. There are photos of networked games and how to hold your hands. Have fun, but remember it is all in good fun so no fighting.
May 27, 2004
Google Results as RSS
Ever wanted to subscribe to search results? Now you can with the Find Forward search engine. This search engine can also search through blogs or even exclude them from your search results.
May 25, 2004
iPod Case
Now this is what you call an iPod Case. Designer Karl Lagerfeld has designed this case based on what he uses to store the 40 iPods that he uses to store all his CDs. But wait there is more, the price tag is $1500 USD.
May 23, 2004
Semacodes - URL Images
Wired is running an article about the use of mobile phones and semacodes to bridge the gap between the real world and the web. It works by using semacodes (square matrix that represents a standards web URL) and mobile phone cameras. Users take a photo of the semacode and then use a semacode reader to translate the image into a URL that can be used to access the web using the mobiles own browser. A sample of a semacode is shown on the right.
This creates other interesting ideas of how you could use this for other applications. It would allow clickable links on posters, buildings, pamphelts, anything essentially allowing for any physical item to be linked with the Internet. One application that could occur is the use of heads up displays and small cameras to provide augmented reality type capabilities. This could allow information to be downloaded and displayed by using the semacodes as reference points in the physical world. This has been done before but there has never been the standard to support this. If semacodes and the use of mobile phone cameras takes off then we could see these icons around more often allowing for augmented reality capabilities to become easier.
May 22, 2004
Simple Tech
One of my hobby horses that I keep spouting to people around work and in the software community is that software should be simple, easy and pleasant to use. No software program should be overly complex, look ugly or unintuitive. I have found an article on Mac Daily News with comments from Dr. John Maeda from M.I.T. Media lab about his opinions of software and hardware development. He is also of the opinion that more software and hardware products should be easier. A perfect example of an easy to use interface is the older stlyle iPod or the new mini iPod, both have a highly intuitive user interface and layout. The new iPod is not as good on the location of the buttons but is still light years ahead of many other MP3 players on the market today.
User interface and product design go beyond just hardware and software for your PC, similar guidelines must also be applied to web sites, information kiosks or even paper print products. If you look around the web all the best commercial sites are simple, easy to use, visually appealing and provide the required functionality with little fuss or confusion.
May 21, 2004
Oracle 10g on Mac OSX
Apple has a page that anounces a roadshow by Oracle on the use of Oracle 10g on Apple's OSX operating system.
Go to Page here
After looking around the internet I have not been able to find any more information about the OSX version of Oracle 10g. The only information I could find was use of Oracle JDeveloper 10g on OSX, nothing about their database or application server.
May 12, 2004
Sony releases VERY small laptop
The register has an article about a very small palmtop computer based on the Intel Centrino processor with no keyboard. The screen of the small computer is very small and does not have a great native resolution, but these types of features are not as important when purchasing such a small computing device.
Goto article
Here is another article (Found by Mof)
May 09, 2004
New page (resumé)
I have just added my resumé to my site. I have not included any contact details other than my email address, if you would like more information please send me an email. lt can be found at:
http://www.labf.org/~egon/resume.html
May 03, 2004
Meaning of Dumbat
I was watching “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” the other night and there was a question that came up with a whole bunch of words, one being “dumbat”. The question here is irrellevant but what I am interested in is the origin of the word “dumbat”. In Australia the word is used as another way of calling someone an idiot.
“You are such a dumbat”
When doing a search on the Internet I could not find a reference to the word at all. If anyone knows the origins then please add a comment to this page.
