|
|
Issue #1 19th October 2007 |
The October Update
Welcome to the first issue of Headstrong Update. It is planned to send out an Update once a month, each one containing news from Headstrong Internet and the web industry, as well as useful software utilities and helpful tips.
In this issue we have Google going green, two hot technologies being showcased by Microsoft and some cracking Windows utilities - read on to find out more.
Regards
Ben Roberts
Editor
Microsoft takes the desktop one step further with Surface
"Picture a surface that can recognize physical objects from a paintbrush to a cell phone and allows hands-on, direct control of content such as photos, music and maps."
That's how Microsoft describe their new computing platform, called Surface. It's basically an LCD screen flipped on its back in a coffee table style enclosure, that offers a touch sensitive screen and the ability to interact with physical objects that you place on it. For example, you place your mobile phone on to the "Surface" and it will automatically be detected and relevant tasks performed (e.g. synchronising your calendar and address book).
While none of the technologies involved are themselves revolutionary, combining them together in this way does create a human/machine interaction like no other, and will certainly help computers become more integrated with every day life without the artificial interfaces we have had to become used to with traditional computing.
Surface @ Microsoft.com
Surface @ Wikipedia
Headstrong News
Inaugural issue of Headstrong Update
That's right - you're reading it. Ths is the first issue of our new email newsletter - Headstrong Update. From now on, Headstrong Update will be sent out once a month, and will contain information on the latest activities at Headstrong, as well as useful software, interesting industry news items and other great content.
New SMTP service for hosting customers
Customers of Headstrong's hosting service can now take advantage of our new SMTP service. This allows you to send (as well as receive) email via our servers. This is especially useful for laptop users, who often cannot send email when on the road (e.g. at wireless hotspots). Switching to our SMTP service will allow you to send email regardless of which ISP you are using to connect. For details please get in touch.
Modelling the real world using the real world
Watch this fascinating short talk by Blaise Aguera y Arcas as he demonstrates two new Microsoft technologies. The first, Seadragon, allows you to interact with a multitude of imagery without screen real estate limitations or assumptions about zoom level and such.
The second technology, called Photosynth, is a system that takes a set of static pictures, works out the location from which they were taken, and then stitches them together to form a 3D model of the enviromnent. One of the examples he uses is a 3D model of Notre Dame based entirely on photographs lifted from the Flickr photo sharing site.
Both are truly awesome technologies that will surely become part of mainstream computing in the future.
Photosynth Demo
Photosynth Application (try it for yourself!)
Other News
Mobile phones soon to be used on European flights
Plans have been unveiled to allow mobile phones to be used on flights in European airspace. Technology has been implemented to relay mobile signals from passenger jets via satellite down to traditional mobile phone base stations on the ground.
Full article (BBC News)
Internet Explorer and Realplayer vulnerability exposed
A security vunerability has been found by security firm Symantec - reporting that users who have RealPlayer installed and browse the web with Internet Explorer could allow someone to take complete control of their machine if they visit a malicious web site. Until RealNetworks release a patch for Realplayer the easiest workaround is to use a different web browser such as Firefox...
Full article (The Register)
Software Selection
Process Tamer
I use AVG anti-virus software. It's a great piece of software, and best of all it's free which is always a bonus. I have it set to do a full system scan every day, which takes around 1 hour. While it scans it consumes a lot of resources and generally makes the computer sluggish when using other programs.
So how to stop AVG being so greedy and consuming so much system resources? Well, I've found a great little utility called Process Tamer that sits in your system tray and monitors all running programs. If it detects a running program that is using more than a predefined percentage of CPU time it reduces the priority setting of the process. When a program runs with reduced priority it will still use up just as much processing power UNLESS some other program with a higher priority requests needs some at the same time.
After installing Process Tamer, I now don't even notice that my virus scan is happening. The scan may take slightly longer (but not much) but this isn't something I care about. Obviously this also works for other programs as well, so if you're ripping audio or video files, or another very processor intensive task, you will be able to continue working without your system becoming very slow and unresponsive.
ProcessTamer homepage:
http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/proctamer/index.html
Taskbar Shuffle
Ever wanted to re-arrange the items on your taskbar into a certain order? I like to have all my regular applications open in the same order so I know exactly where on the taskbar I need to click without even looking.
However, Windows doesn't let you re-order these items - it shows them in the order that you opened the applications. Enter Taskbar Shuffle, which is a free Windows utility that simply allows you to drag and drop your taskbar items to move them into the desired location. And the latest version now allows you to re-order the tray icons too.
Taskbar Shuffle homepage:
http://www.freewebs.com/nerdcave/taskbarshuffle.htm
Google goes green... well black actually!
This one is for those of you who are worried about your carbon footprint! It has been shown that computer screens consume more energy to display a white pixel than a black pixel. Multiply this up by the size of your screen and it turns out that power consumption is reduced by several watts if you have a black screen showing instead of a white screen.
Heap Media have jumped on this idea and created Blackle, a search engine that uses the main Google database and therefore returns the same results - but with the crucial difference that the search screen is black instead of Google's white.
The net result of all the millions of Google users switching to Blackle could be a significant reduction in energy usage worldwide. Do your bit for the environment and update your browser today!
That's all for this month
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this issue. If you know anyone who might appreciate this please take a moment to forward a copy to them - it will be much appreciated.
Regards
Ben Roberts
Editor
Contact Information
Headstrong Update is published by Headstrong Internet Services
Web: http://headsnet.com/ Email: info@headsnet.com
Subscription & Privacy Information
You have received this email because you have subscribed to Headstrong Update. If you no longer wish to receive these emails you can unsubscribe at any time.
All mailings are strictly on an opt-in basis. Headstrong does not send spam.
Headstrong stores your subscription information in a secure database. We will not share your details with any third party organisation or individual, and only store your information for the purposes of distributing Headstrong Update.
