However, we did manage to find time to record the latest episode of Open Season. This time we touched on Adobe’s OSS works, Red Hat’s new CEO and the realm of the Mule.
And yes, I do want a new MacBook Air.
I spent all of last week working on Mule product announcements (please to enjoy the world’s first open source SOA Governance Platform) and the new MuleSource website which left nary little time for blogging.
There are lots of things to like about Google’s Gmail service: It’s free (unless you count the text ads at the top of each window; it is available on any device with Internet access, and it’s easy to use as a central repository for multiple e-mail accounts.
Paste the address in the From: field and click the Next Step button. After a few seconds you’ll see all the mail from that person listed at the bottom of the screen. Check Apply the label, and choose New label from the drop-down menu to the right. Enter a name for your filter, and click OK. You can select the messages you want to view in the list, or simply click Also apply filter to the xx conversations below to add all of them. Click Create Filter to return to the Filters tab of the Settings window.
Sort your Gmail messages by applying a label to a filter.
Unfortunately, there are also many useful features of Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, and other standalone e-mail programs that Gmail lacks. One of the features I miss most is the ability to sort messages by sender. I used to have to page through old mail 50 messages at a time to find the one I was looking for. Now I use the service’s filters and labels as a sort substitute.
If you’re looking for a message from a particular person, select that person’s entry in the Contacts list on the left of the main Gmail window, and copy the address in the To: field. Next, click Settings in the top-right corner of the window, and choose Filters > Create a new filter.
Find all the messages from a single person by entering their address in the From: field of Gmail's Create a filter screen.
The messages you selected and all subsequent mail from that person will now be viewable by clicking the entry you just created in the Labels list on the left side of the main Gmail window, just below your list of contacts. Of course, you can also create a labeled filter to find the mail you sent to a specific address, with or without certain words in the subject or elsewhere, and with attachments.
Tomorrow: enable the hidden administrator account in
Windows Vista, and password-protect the XP equivalent.
The new section of the site is set to launch June 4. Huffington Post representatives said the effort was spearheaded by current Editor-at-large Willow Bay, a TV journalist who currently hosts programs on the Lifetime women’s cable network.
“HuffPost Green will focus on eco news and trends–from style and eco-conscious celebrities to green lifestyle tips and the latest scientific findings and expert analysis,” a release from the company explained, hinting that we will likely see photos of Leonardo DiCaprio with his shirt off in addition to the latest grim findings on climate change. “The section will also feature advice on sustainable investing and highlight eco-friendly businesses and sustainable business sectors such as renewable energy, green building, recycling and organics.”
The Huffington Post, the news aggregation and commentary site founded by political pundit Arianna Huffington and former AOL exec Ken Lerer, is finally jumping on the post-Al-Gore bandwagon.
If you’re like me, your reaction to this news might’ve been, “What? You mean there isn’t a ‘green’ section already?” The New York-based Huffington Post got its start as a liberal answer to the wildly popular Drudge Report news site, and while it’s since branched beyond its political roots, it remains targeted toward a well-educated, left-leaning audience.
The company announced Wednesday that it will be launching HuffPost Green, a site division specific to “green” content through a content partnership with Discovery Communications’ Planet Green channel as well as TreeHugger, the popular eco-news blog that Discovery acquired last year.
But although it runs sections pertaining to politics, media, entertainment, business, and “living,” as well as a comedy site called 23/6 in conjunction with IAC, there still hadn’t been a section devoted to the unavoidably trendy niche of environmental media. Until now.
Think magnets and sharks, flapping fish, dynamite and steak, and ninjas and poison darts.
Without giving too much away, I got to spend most of the day yesterday at the MythBusters headquarters in San Francisco, talking with the hit TV show’s stars as they prepared for upcoming episodes.
(Credit:
Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)
MythBuster Adam Savage holds up a piece of steak that has had core samples taken as part of experiment into extreme meat tenderizing. The experiment included attempting to tenderize steak with dynamite and by shooting steak out of an air cannon.
If you’re a big MythBusters fan, or even if you’re not, I hope you will stop on by on Friday morning, as I’ll have a story and extensive photo gallery from the day I spent Wednesday hanging out with the famous team.
And if you want to know more, this is the place to be, starting at 4 a.m. Pacific time on Friday.
Following earlier news that Microsoft was recalculating its $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo, it has become clear what the company has decided to do. Microsoft has thrown down the gauntlet, as evidenced by a letter Saturday from CEO Steve Ballmer to Yahoo’s board of directors. Here’s the quote that sums up the entire letter:
“If we have not concluded an agreement within the next three weeks, we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders, including the initiation of a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors for the Yahoo! board.”
Full coverage
Microsoft’s big bid for Yahoo Click here for the latest on the software giant’s attempt to buy the Net pioneer.
This certainly is sending a strong message to Yahoo that almost nothing can be done to derail Microsoft’s acquisition of the company. Rubbing salt into the wound, Microsoft adds, “It is unfortunate that by choosing not to enter into substantive negotiations with us, you have failed to give due consideration to a transaction that has tremendous benefits for Yahoo!’s shareholders and employees,” in an attempt to stir up a response from Yahoo’s board.
Since everything has been laid out and is now on the table, we are in for a very interesting three weeks. A hostile takeover of Yahoo would be really ugly and you can bet that Microsoft does not want to take that route, but it appears that they will if they have to.
The immediacy of game content delivered via Web browser could be the thing that knocks game consoles out of the foothold they have established.
But it seems a bit naive to think that people will only play games one way. Video games are not much different than other software–developed, consumed and distributed in different manners.
A more-likely scenario than the death of the console is one in which the console can play games of all types, including those that are browser-based or require a download installation.
The digital distribution era as described by Mike Yuen, senior director of BREW Gaming for Qualcomm Internet Services, is one that requires the gaming industry to re-evaluate the way it distributes content:
At this year’s Casual Connect Conference in Seattle, Alex St. John, CEO of WildTangent, predicted the death of console gaming by 2020. He surmised that as the industry shifts its focus from quality graphics to production value it will be less inclined to invest in the development of next-gen gaming consoles. When coupled with rapidly increasing digital content distribution through online and mobile devices, the decrease in console production will cut into the profits and demand for retail console and PC games. With the increased proliferation of affordable, immediate digital content, St. John predicted that the PC and browser will emerge as the dominate “console” within the gaming industry.
Of course, this assumes that consumers would be willing to have a less graphically intense experience and have the requisite bandwidth to make the game usable. While I don’t see the bandwidth as an issue, and games such as World of Warcraft aren’t hurting for high-quality graphics, it’s hard to see a world where the consoles go away completely.
Today, the most popular browser-based games are casual play, as opposed to console games that people tend to play more seriously. In fact, the immersive nature of console games has led to an entire category of legal issues, the most bizarre of which is the “video game defense.” According to the Palm Beach Post:
“The goal of the ‘video games’ defense is to both shift blame and to explain to a judge and jury why this good kid is suddenly acting like a terrorist,” says Illinois attorney James H. Waller. “Portraying your client as the victim of outside forces (be they child abuse, coercion by peers, or an ultra-violent video game industry) humanizes the client and shifts the culpability.”
Sooner or later someone will use the “blog defense” or “Twitter defense” when all of the noise of the Internet makes them go cuckoo. (For more such noise, you can follow my Twitter antics at Daveofdoom.)
While you’re thinking of these heady topics, enjoy the classic (and casual) arcade game Burgertime, courtesy of my friends at Widgetbox.
Disclaimer: The opinions represented here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.
Canon’s 17-85mm zoom lens
(Credit:
Canon)
Last year, Canon posted an interesting video showing the manufacturing process behind the EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens that costs about $5,800. Now a photographer has posted his own site that that illustrates why the comparatively lowly EF-S 17-85MM f4-5.6 IS USM costs about $500.
A FredMiranda forum member named Sam posted some photographic details of his lens disassembly after his model suffered a stuck aperture, the mechanism that regulates how much light goes into the lens. Fittingly, the last photo he took was of an exhibit at a Parisian Arab-Islamic museum that features dozens of apertures.
As you might imagine, the lens is an amazing feat of electromechanical miniaturization. I found the most intriguing shots to be of the slotted mechanism that converts rotation of the focusing and zoom rings on the outside of the lens into movement of component assemblies on the inside. Also, the copper windings of the motors controlling the image stabilization are fascinating. I was a little surprised how small the broken aperture actually is. In all, there are dozens of components.
Having stripped some screws and not kept track of the disassembly order, he decided against trying to reassemble it. “Overall, the inner workings were a bit more complex than I expected, but it was a nice linear process taking it apart,” he said.
So at the end of it all, he turned the lens into a pencil holder.
Bonus link: Also, if you’re in a more constructive frame of mind, the Japanese camera giant also shares instructions on how to make a Canon SLR out of balsa wood.
Curious about gardening? Check out Folia, a social network for plant enthusiasts who want to share and learn tips from the successes and failures of those around them.
Much like Ravelry, the social network for knitters, Folia’s claim to fame is that it lets you share and track your gardening with others whether they’re near or far. It’s also been built up to help you keep an inventory on all your plants and aid you in making swaps with other growers for plants you’d normally have to go out and buy yourself. Think of it like a giant swap meet for plants.
One of the site’s biggest assets for newbie gardeners is that it’s set up to help you learn about a plant you’ve just acquired, or are thinking about getting, and let you see how well it will work in your region based on the USDA zoning–a list of the ideal growing conditions. While this is helpful, the site can be even more useful if people nearby are posting information on plants that have been successfully grown in your area–something you’re unlikely to find on the back of a seed bag. There’s also a built-in wiki that will give you information on each variety and tips on growing it.
Besides being a reference service, Folia throws in some publishing and productivity tools like a garden blog and a scheduling tool. It ties into Flickr and Google services like Picasa Web Albums and Blogger, so you can take pictures of your plant and post them to your virtual gardens to show to others. This goes along with a tracking tool that notes how many days each plant has been growing since you put it in the ground and when you should water and tend to it based on your care preferences.
Folia launched in earnest in late 2007. Competing gardening social networks include The Garden Network and GardenWeb.
[via Unclutter via Lifehacker]
Gardening goes Web 2.0 with Folia, a tracking and plant resource side with a great social twist.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
Security vendor McAfee has launched a free online cybercrime help center. CNET News reporter Elinor Mills joins the podcast to talk about her experience trying out the service with her mother.
Plus, CNET Labs’ editor Eric Franklin talks about CNET’s new Monitor Green Guide, which might be able to save you a few pennies.
Listen now:
Download today’s podcast
Today’s stories:
Apple prepping two wireless devices with Verizon?
Office 2007 adds Open Document support
McAfee launches free online cybercrime help center
Spain plugs in largest solar-tower power plant
Oil giant Total invests in butanol maker Gevo
CNET’s Monitor Green Guide
I finally got my hands on a MacBook Air. Though I’m sure I’m repeating what some others have said already, I needed to state one thing before I do a more extensive evaluation: this unbelievably thin notebook is rock solid.
NOTE: This is not an official CNET review. And is not by any means a full review. Just a quick first-look. Official CNET product review is here.
One of the concerns I had–and I’m sure I’m not alone–is whether a notebook this thin will be flimsy and overly delicate. The answer is a resounding no. It feels more solid in my hands than the rugged, well-built, 1.6-inch-thick HP Compaq nc8000 I have used for many years (since 2003).
2003 HP business notebook and MacBook Air
(Credit:
Brooke Crothers)
The reason for this is the Air’s aluminum construction and light weight. In other words, when you pick up the Air, you sense an almost perfect balance of sturdiness and weight–despite the fact that the Air exceeds the dimensions of a typical, more-compact subnotebook.
Update: One other quick impression. No excessive heat to speak of. Another challenge for designers of ultra-thin notebooks is how to effectively dissipate the heat that is generated by the core electronics, including the main processor, the graphics silicon, and hard drive. Apple has succeeded admirably. Admittedly, I am using the solid state drive (flash memory) version of the Air so there’s no hard drive heat to worry about and I don’t play games (some gamers have cited heat issues). Impressive nonetheless. More later.
