Category: Computers

How To Improve Massively Multiplayer Games

Many of my friends are, shall we say avid (addicted) fans of various multi player online games. I can think of a bunch of more cool things to be doing (updating my blog, editing photos, selling crap on eBay, etc…) than playing these games (mostly ‘caus it costs $$$ each month to play them and I’m too cheap). Anyway, if these suggestions were listend to and adapted, I might change my mind…
kuro5hin.org – How To Improve Massively Multiplayer Games

Don’t Want to Chuck Your Old PDA…

PalmOrb LCD
.. graft it onto your PC!

PalmOrb is software that allows you to use your PalmOS device as a LCD status display for your computer! You can display system stats (such as: CPU load graphs, CPU temperatures, free disk space), news alerts, stock indexes, WinAmp graphs, etc.

PalmOrb works by pretending to be (or emulating) a real LCD; a Matrix Orbital LK204-25 LCD. So you can use existing software that expects a Matrix Orbital display! Here are a few LCD driving programs:

To see what those are check out the link:

PalmOrb: Use your PalmOS PDA as a LCD status display via serial, USB, BlueTooth or IR

“Mac father” Jef Raskin Passes Away

Jef Raskin
I saw this on Boing Boing today:

“Mac father” Jef Raskin: in memoriam
Personal computing pioneer Jef Raskin passed away this weekend.

Raskin is best known for starting the Macintosh project at Apple in the late seventies, though his later career as an expert in computer interfaces was overshadowed by controversy over who ‘fathered’ the Macintosh. Though Raskin conceived of the Mac, he was usurped by Steve Jobs, who put his own distinctive mark on the machine we know today.

Link to obit post on CultOfMac.

Update: BoingBoing’s founder Mark Frauenfelder says:

This is really sad. I saw Jef last fall, and he seemed to be in good health. Jef wrote many wonderful ideas for me when I was an editor at Wired. He also wrote some really funny (and true) stories for the print edition of bOING bOING under the nom de plume “El Jefe.” He was a wonderful artist, musician, and inventor. He’ll be missed.

Mac father” Jef Raskin: in memoriam
Google News Links

(obit, apple, Jef Raskin)

Using air to charge cellphones? IIT-Delhi does it!

I hope I can buy one of these soon, it would be pretty handy. Actually what I’d want is a device to recharge my PDA. I doubt that the turbine or the magneto would put out enough current/voltage to charge the LiIon pack in my Viewsonic V-36. I can’t tell you how many times I have been reading it and all of a sudden the low battery warning pops up. If I don’t shut it down ASAP the memory will corrupt. Its a dumb design, but then again it was less than $200US..
Using air to charge cellphones? IIT-Delhi does it!

Sidewinder Hand Crank Cell Phone Recharger