2008.02.20
This is how! A wonderful program by doubleTwist called, surprisingly enough, doubleTwist desktop. It synchronises with iTunes or Windows Media Player, getting around their copy protection by converting the DRM files to MP3s in real-time while you listen to them. This means no copyright laws are ‘technically’ being broken. It’s just like recording from the radio or TV!
The platform also allows you to share music over Facebook (other social networking sites to follow) with the use of it’s ‘TwistMe’ application. It’s genius. According to their website (and I will test this in a minute) it “acts like a media drop-box, enabling your friends to send you pictures, video and audio…right to you your desktop”.
The company’s mission is “to enable consumers to enjoy their digital media on the widest possible range of devices and help them share what they’ve created with friends”.
Brilliant! The concept is great and what’s more - the company was started by the guy who broke the copy protection on DVDs.
I just love the term “legally circumvent” too. It’s an oxymoron and just makes me laugh!
2008.02.20
As I so often like to blog about Apple’s cool new feature that they have patented I thought I would do the honours with a new offering from the company. This article shows a new ‘customisable’ user touch interface, allowing for gestures using your whole hand to be allocated to different tasks.
Original Article Here
2008.02.18
I just read this article which says that ISPs have shot down the governement’s plans to have them block or rigorously monitor a subscriber’s data.
“surveillance and privacy laws explicitly forbid ISPs to inspect the contents of data…”
“P2P technology is legally utilised in a number of commercial services including [the] BBC…”
I am very happy about this, not only because I am an avid fan of P2P *whistles* but because it’s just ridiculous that the government is so quick to champion an obviously flawed scheme from a foreign government! - Peer pressure? I thought we were supposed to grow out of that?
2008.02.17
I found this very interesting article about a hydrogen fuel cell powered phone! Of all things! This is the first live piece of technology I have seen to be powered by such technology other than cars. This leads to the interesting question about what else could be powered by such fuel cells - Laptops? Cameras? What would the benefits be of using such technology rather than traditional batteries?
Original Article Here
2008.02.11
I came across this piece of eBay GOLD. It’s a seemingly normal listing until you get down to the item description…
2008.02.10
I just came across a website created entirely in flash and has some amazing transitions.
Take a look here
2008.02.10
I was reading this article and was amazed to see the progress of solid state drives (SSD). It wasn’t that long ago when it was expensive enough to buy a 64MB pen drive and now a company is preparing to ship “in volume” a 1.6TB drive for use in computing. This really is moving on to the future of no moving parts in computers at all.
There are already a few prototypes utilizing this technology, if memory serves one is called ‘the green machine’ or something similar. If I can find a link I’ll whack it in this post.
2008.02.09
I have just finished messing around in 3DS Max for the day. It’s very early in the morning but it seems to be when I do my best work. I created some illuminating shapes using V-Ray and then managed to create chrome and glass materials and apply them to some objects. What I can’t figure out is why there is a cloudy effect on the plane underneath. I thought it was because of refraction through the glass as when I advanced the material more, the clouds suddenly appeared. Strange. I don’t like them.
Anyway, here is what I’ve done.
2008.02.08
Thanks to a tutorial from Russell Smith here I have finally been able to create a very nice reflective effect in 3DS Max. Now I’m just messing about with materials, colours and looking at V-Ray which I have just installed. Sooo many options!
Here’s what I’ve done so far, the third one using V-Ray and the last one using Mental-Ray.
2008.02.08
Hello World!
This is a very apt phrase at the moment as I have been learning php and the first thing it was used for is to echo “Hello World!”. It is also appropriate as I have managed (after much tweaking) to use WordPress and my own domain to host my own blog… so to anyone who is reading this - Please see above!
