IBM offers a 'Microsoft-free' desktop

IBM wants corporate customers to cut the cord with Microsoft.

The tech pioneer is launching a Linux-based collection of virtual-desktop applications that run on a server without the need for desktop hardware--or Microsoft software, according to a report on Wednesday evening by The Wall Street Journal. The Linux-based software package, which is available now, runs on a back-office server and is accessible to customers on thin clients, the paper reported.
The Virtual Linux Desktop ranges in price from $59 to $289 per user, depending on level of software and service desired, according to the report. IBM estimates that the software package could save corporate customers up to $800 per user, when compared with the cost of maintaining Microsoft's Vista operating system, Office suite, and collaboration tools, the newspaper said.
IBM is counting on the prevalent economic pressures to help make its "Microsoft-free" suite more appealing.
"Deploying your technology this way is going to save you something more than 50 percent of your total costs," Jeff Smith, IBM's vice president for open source and Linux, told the Journal. "As customers face an increasingly challenging economic situation, they're looking at everything they're spending money on."
Cost aside, however, corporate customers may not be ready to embrace an environment where their data is stored centrally instead of locally.

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If you wanna save money, this is the way to go! Im not sure exactly what i think of this so if anyone wants to share their thoughts, be my guest. =D

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10113197-92.html?tag=TOCmoreStories.0

SitOrSquat

SitOrSquat is a handy service that helps you find the nearest public bathroom. Unlike MizPee, which has been doing this since October of last year, SitOrSquat has gotten its act together enough to put out two great apps for iPhones and Blackberry phones. The key benefit of these being the inclusion of GPS, which narrows down where you are with just one click. If you're in a hurry--which is inevitable when using a service like this, this feature is immensely helpful.
In addition to its GPS locating, the mobile application lets you take photos of the facilities from your phone's camera, which go into a central library others can eyeball before they go. You can also add new locations right from your device, which will get pushed up live to the service's network of bathrooms.
SitOrSquat throws in all the bells and whistles you'd expect for a bathroom-rating social network. Registered users can rate each location on a five-star scale. This meta-rating gets translated into a recommendation of whether your should sit or squat, with the latter being undesirable.
One thing that's missing from the mobile app, and present on the actual site is information on whether or not the bathroom has any sort of prerequisites to get in, such as a purchase or a key. It's also missing the hours of operation, something which can be helpful if you're trying to use the application at night or on the weekends when a business might be closed. Mizpee has both of these features, and they can be total deal breakers in your hunt for porcelain.
If you're an iPhone user you can pick up the app here (iTunes warning). BlackBerry users have the option to either download the app or run it as a WAP version over the air.

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Well, if you're in a hurry or in an unknown area, and you have an "emergency", this can come in pretty handy. =D

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10114835-2.html?tag=mncol

NASA Writes Mars a Rain Check

NASA's latest Mars rover -- a six-wheeled, laser-slinging space truck the size of an SUV -- has been plagued by engineering problems, causing delays and ballooning costs. The agency announced Thursday that it will have to postpone next year's scheduled launch to 2011, the next point at which Mars and Earth are close enough together to send out a probe. This change will come with a price tag of $400 million U.S. dollars!

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Seems like a waste of time and a waste of money also because they're already over the budget on this project and they're adding $400 million dollars to it like its nothing. Would it really be better if they send it in 2011 than 2009? =D


See the whole story here:
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/NASA-Writes-Mars-a-Rain-Check-65387.html

Director Stitches 45,000 Photographs Into a Music Video

Good video doesn't always need a great video camera. A still camera, imagination and a lot of hours can also get you there.
Cesar Kuriyama, a New York animator and lighting technical director, has directed a visually arresting music video using an interesting technique.
Eschewing a video camera, he took 45,000 photographs with a Nikon D200 DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) camera and stitched them together to create the illusion of video.
The music video was created for the band Fat City Reprise and premiered at their homecoming concert in Philadelphia.
Kuriyama says he directed the talent in the video to move as best they could in slow-motion while he had his director of photography Tommy Agriodimas shoot JPG bursts with the Nikon D200.
The duo were able to get about 60 images per burst at about four pictures per second. "Obviously we did many takes for each shot," says Kuriyama. "Eventually one good take of them moving in slow motion would look great."
After that the team re-worked the frames in post-production to move closer to 24 frames per second.
Including the time for conceptualizing and creating the story board, it took Kuriyama about 14 months to the video. He worked on it after-work hours every day.
The whole video cost just about $3000 to make, says Kuriyama, "plus the endless personal hours."
The video also features an animated stuffed animal designed and created by a friend. Kuriyama rigged it with blue sticks coming out of its arms and legs and wore a black suit to hide him. Post-production tricks helped firm the illusion.
Much of the editing for the video, says Kuriyama, was done on his MacBook Pro in Final Cut Pro. He managed the photographs in iPhoto and did the effects in Eyeon Fusion.
Kuriyama's efforts is an interesting way to circumvent the challenge that photographers face when it comes to creating high quality videos at low cost.
Compact digital cameras, which have had video-recording capabilities for years, offer disappointing image quality. High-end video and movie cameras are bulky and can be very expensive.
But the $2700 21-megapixel Canon 5D Mark II capable of 1080p HD video and the $1300 12-megapixel Nikon D90, which can record 720p HD video could change the game.
The two cameras deliver very high quality video and still images and could help photographers move to a single camera for their needs.


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This would be fun and all, if you had good and fun friends working with you but this process looks time consuming. i would like to do this, but only for a limited time, not 14 whole months on one video. =D

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/12/along-with-his.html

Film Maker Plans to Install Camera in his Eye Socket

Rob Spence looks you straight in the eye when he talks. So it's a little unnerving to imagine that soon one of his hazel-green eyes will have a tiny wireless video camera in it that records your every move.
The eye he's considering replacing is not a working one -- it's a prosthetic eye he's worn for several years. Spence, a 36-year-old Canadian filmmaker, is not content with having one blind eye. He wants a wireless video camera inside his prosthetic, giving him the ability to make movies wherever he is, all the time, just by looking around.
"If you lose your eye and have a hole in your head, then why not stick a camera in there?" he asks.
Spence, who calls himself the "eyeborg guy," will not be restoring his vision. The camera won't connect to his brain. What it will do is allow him to be a bionic man where technology fuses with the human body to become inseparable. In effect, he will become a "little brother," someone who's watching and recording every move of those in his field of vision.

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i wouldnt be comfortable if someone was filming me just by looking at me. It would be creepy even though it looks really cool and all. But just because i dont want to be filmed doesnt mean i dont want to film, hehe, i wouldnt mind having a camera in my eye, but only for a temporary time though and without pain too. Doesnt his eye hurt? =D

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/12/eye-spy-filmmak.html

SMILE like a MONKEY!! =D

HairTry

Baldness is serious business--to the tune of millions of dollars every year spent on surgeries, special sprays, and hair pieces. Aderans, the Japanese equivalent of Hair Club for Men has a neat service called HairTry that lets you upload a picture of your head to try on various hairstyles without having to leave your couch.
It takes a 2D photo you've uploaded and processes it for 3D, adding facial gestures and eyeballs that follow your mouse around as you navigate the site. The 3D effect is far more believable than a still image, and even gives you a little back and forth sway that shows off the sides. If you've used Gizmoz or BigStage this is very similar. However outside of those two, and virtual make-up site Taaz (coverage), this is one of the only services I've seen apply the technology to a business.
In addition to hair, the site offers a small selection of eyeglasses, which has been done elsewhere, but is a nice touch considering they've already got your face ready to work with.
The site is entirely in Japanese and runs in Adobe Flash, so you can't use Google Translate on it. In light of that, I've made a quick tutorial of how to upload your head, pick hairstyles, and export it into an amazing image file you can use on your social network of choice:

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I like the part where his head moves side to side, it looks all swavy and flowy and AWEsome! I better go tell ********** about this! Ill go try this just for fun, i hope they have girl hair. I want to try male hair on myslef too. Guess i'll go waste an hour of my life on this. =D

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10109675-2.html?tag=mncol