Author Archive

Picotux – The smallest Linux running machine

Saturday, April 14th, 2007

It seems that Picotux is the world’s smallest Linux running computer.
Its sizes are 35mm×19mm×19mm. Inside there’s an ARM7 CPU running at 55 MHz and an uClinux kernel 2.4.27 + Busybox 1.0.
Being this small, you might think the communication/connectivity part would have to suffer, but that’s not true.
It also has an 10/100 Mbps half/full duplex Ethernet and a serial port with up to 230.400 baud.
You may want to check the full list of technical specifications here.

The price may vary from ~100Euros (the cheapest) and it can go up to ~240Euros for advanced features. Aditional features can be bought as well.

Here’s a picture of it. What do you think?

linux

What’s Google up to 1st of April this year?

Friday, March 9th, 2007
Googleapril

Google is the most popular search engine. That’s where it all started. Now it ended up with dozens of web services and huge popularity. Did you noticed Firefox 2.0 doesn’t detect a grammar error when you type ‘Google’, but it does when you type ‘Altavista’? Go thinking.

Anyway, my point is Google has such an influence on everybody that their past April Fool’s day jokes were actually believed by many people. Click on the joke’s title to visit the original page.
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iPhone vs Smartphone comic inspired from Mac vs PC ads

Wednesday, February 28th, 2007

Unless you have been wandering around with a bucket on your head, you have probably seen that Apple launched a heavily debated campaign last Christmas, trying to prove you once more the multitude of reasons why you’d need a Mac. However, the PC fought back, and the battle continues. This is overall a quite interesting concept and many people have tried to follow.

I have found this funny comic strip that is trying to represent the differences between an iPhone and a Smartphone and which I will be reproducing further. I’m looking forward to hear your comments.
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Firefox CAN be faster – 4 easy tricks

Tuesday, February 6th, 2007
firefoxlogoa

Now that we all know the hidden pages in Firefox, it’s time to go a bit deeper into tweaking your browser for optimal use. All of the operations will be made in the about:config page, so save your important stuff, open up a new tab, write about:config in the address bar and be prepared. I have gathered four tricks that will improve your Firefox experience, and here they are.

1. Fetch only pages that you click
Firefox mostly resembles to Google from this point of view. It has a built-in feature (enabled by default) that will pre-download the pages behind the links it thinks you MIGHT click. Google anticipates you might click the first result from the page, but how in the world can Firefox anticipate the link you’re going to click? Anyway, in my opinion this is just useless bandwidth usage, CPU power and HDD space. You’re practically downloading and storing pages you are not viewing. Here’s how you stop that in three simple steps.


In the about:config list, filter up your search after ‘network’ so it would be easier for you. Then, find through the remaining list options the key that says network.prefetch-next. It should be set to TRUE. Double click it, and it will turn to false. There we go, now Firefox will stop acting creepy and will only fetch what you click ;)
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Tips and tricks: Convert anything to just about anything

Monday, February 5th, 2007
convertor

Converting files from one format to another is a necessity and you don’t need me to tell you that. A few years ago, software programs that were converting WAVs to MP3s, AVIs to MPEGs,were pretty much popular, although their abilities were limited to just a few features and not to mention the low format support.

Today, they do have some serious competition, and I am going to present you the most reliable options. The main advantage of what I’m going to present is that you do not need to download nor buy any software. They’re mostly free and accessible via your web browser. Some projects may be still in the beta stage of development, but I can assure you that everything goes safe and sound. Try them out yourself, and feel free to share opinions.
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World’s smallest printers

Friday, February 2nd, 2007

They’re powerful, they’re cool and they are the smallest printers ever made. The perfect choice for traveling, these little gadgets are not expensive as it may seem. In fact, they’re quite affordable, and they will definitely match your portable notebook. They’re all developed by PrintDreams along with their patented technologies, RMPT lite and RMPT full.
Feel free to check them out. I can fully guarantee they’ll make great presents.


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The Xyron Design Runner is probably world’s coolest creative tool. The first printer from the series, running their RMPT lite technology, the little printer is is a cordless, battery operated, handheld device that allows creative users to print a large variety of letters, shapes, icons, WordArt, borders and phrases directly into their projects. Creative users appreciate the fact that it is possible to print directly in media types that would never fit into a conventional printer device, thus allowing exceptional flexibility. There’s no need of a computer, wires or complicated download processes. The Xyron Design Runner retails somewhere around $160.


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The Whooosh is scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2007 and it’s expected to be the coolest printer device. Using PrintDreams’ RMPT full technology, this will be the ideal tool to complement common drawing activities and make them even more fun and creative than ever. Users will be able to print out their favorite movie characters, figures, animals and much more directly in drawing books or other surfaces no matter format or size. Kids can also create their own art and uploaded to empty memory cards through an optional USB memory card burner accessory. The expected price will be around $150.


printer1

The PrintBrush is the smallest printer ever made that can print full size format (A4 or letter size). Featuring the RMPT full technology, this gadget is expected to launch within one year from now. It will retail around $200 and in many ways, it will be even better than stationary printers or other so called “mobile” printers. For example, it will be possible to print directly in notebooks or other media that would never fit into a conventional printer device. It will also be completely silent allowing you to print during ongoing meetings, etc. On top of all that, no wires, no cables, no mess.

I’m looking forward to try and closely review at least one of these little gadgets.

10 things you should know before submitting your site to Google

Monday, January 29th, 2007
googlehalflogo

The same way you clean up your house before your guests arrive, the same way you should get your website ready for Google’s crawler, as this is one of the most important guests you will ever have. According to that, here are 10 things you should double check before submitting your website to the index. If you want, you can view this article as the correction of the top 10 mistakes made by webmasters.

1. If you have a splash page on your website, make sure you have a text link that allows you to pass it.
I’ve seen many websites with a fancy flash introduction on the index and no other way to navigate around it. Well, Google can’t read into your flash page, and therefore it cannot bypass it. All you have to do is put a text link to your website’s second index, and the deed is done.

2. Make sure you have no broken links
I know this is kind of obvious, but you’ll be surprised to find out how many errors is the Google crawler experiencing daily due broken links. Therefore, you’d better check and double check every internal link of your webpage before submission. Don’t forget that your links are also your visitor’s paths to your content. It’s not all about Google, you know :)

3. Check the TITLE tags
Since you are able to search in title tags on Google and since the title tags is displayed in the top of your browser window, I’d say this is an important aspect you need to check. This doesn’t mean you have to compile a >20 keywords list there. Instead, make it a readable sentence since it’s viewable by both crawlers and surfers.

4. Check the META tags
Rumors about Google not caring about META tags are not 100% correct. Google relies on these tags to describe a site when there’s a lot of navigation code that wouldn’t make sense to a human searcher, so why not make sure you’re all in order and set up some valid KEYWORDS and a valid DESCRIPTION. You never know.
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