Vista is a waste of time...

no... really... it makes you less efficient...

In an independent research, Pfeiffer Consulting conducted the research based on an independently financed series of benchmarks that establish how Vista impacts User Interface Friction (UIF) and user efficiency.

It found Vista to be even worse than Windows XP (SP2) -- and of course Mac OS X.

Windows Vista Hinders Creative Users’ Efficiency Even More than Windows XP Did [via /.]

P.S. Results from research and studies don't lie eh? ;)

cool desktops now in hi-res

those desktops that vista rejected are now available online in hi-res.

 

 

http://www.istartedsomething.com/uploads/hamadvistawallpapers[hamaddarwish.com].zip (31Mb)

what ppl use those old film canisters for...

hahahaha
Well I thought it was cute.

MSN censors links

Censorship, originally uploaded by Isaac Mao.

Well, it turns out that MSN Messenger censors links

I was trying to send this link to all my friends to get them to vote for me so I could win some cash:

http://www.bankwestphoto.com.au/gallery.php?id=E74D-070C-4288-7B82

But Adium told me of connection errors, Proteus pretended to send but the other person never received the message, and I refused to use the real MSN Messenger but apparently it behave like Proteus.

Server-side filtering with no error message is SO crappy! Best analogy is that of a government secretly pulling letters out of the mail system because they contain naughty info. Microsoft, repent! Repent now! I need to win cash and you're stopping me!

Lightsaber Umbrella

Need I say more? ;)

Lightsaber Umbrella For Uberdorks [via Gizmodo]

More Word Verification Tomfoolery! :)

Buhahahahahah!

[via Worse Than Failure]

(Note: Worse Than Failure is the new name for TheDailyWTF)

hasselblads in spaaaaaaaaaace

(with apologies to Miss Piggy.)

 

http://www.hasselblad.com/about-hasselblad/hasselblad-in-space/space-cameras.aspx

weird - should you run or stay and smile ?

ad
Originally uploaded by Avi_Abrams.

I guess it is a variant on the `glueing 50c to the sidewalk' game.

Russian Tower Blocks

What a difference ! drab is the normal colour for these concrete monoliths.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom review...

Haven't had a good look at this as I'm not into digital photography workflow (I'm a 'point, shoot, hope and pray for a few decent shots' kinda guy *grin*), but seeing that this may interest a number of people... and it's from Ars Technica...



In search of the perfect workflow [via /.]

What Vista Is Really Like

This interesting bit of prose depicts an analogy where you woke and found a strange and beautiful woman in your bed, and she was inscrutible, unpredictable, and dangerous... but oh so beautiful?

Read on... cos it's quite an amusing read...

So Beautiful, So Disturbing [via /.]

xkcd comic

OK, I'll admit I haven't read all of these, but the few that I have are quite funny. And the art is superb. ;)

Eddie loves (nine)MSN Search, google is so yesterday

This is awesome ...

http://www.istartedsomething.com/20070223/millionaire-google-msn/

This is a clip from of the Australian version of the “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” quiz-show. The show was broadcasted on the Channel 9 channel, who had a strong affiliation with Microsoft through their collaborative content portal, NineMSN. The host (Eddie McGuire) insists the contestants should use NineMSN search over Google search.

What follows is pure marketing gold.

 

Video: Who Wants to be a Millionaire

Working for NetFlix

A 'day-in-the-life-of' account of a NetFlix employee whose job description is a DVD Inspector...

Interesting read...

Working for Netflix at a Shipping Center [via Gizmodo]

flickr having problems

Looks like flickr is using someone else's thumbnails for Hannah.

while on the subject of rice ....

Testing on the Toilet

Yes, you read right... on the Toilet!

We've seen those pics of the facilities (ahem, yes I do mean the toilets) of Google where they have some thing for the employees to read when they are bored on the loo... :)

"This is a service that has been apparently been running internally for several months and teaching developers about testing during their 'down time,' so to speak."

Now they started a blog where you can download (Hrmmm... claim credit for unintended pun...) the weekly episodes in PDF to put up in our own loos... Seems like an interesting notion... :)

Introducing "Testing on the Toilet" [via /.]

Inside Lucasfilm's Data Centre

Now that's some original hardware naming convention... ;)

Inside the Lucasfilm data center [via /.]

The computing power behind ILM's magic (Photo Gallery)

Google's NYC offices

Man, this place looks like a fun place to work... ;)



Does working for our overlords require selling our souls or firstborns? ;)

Googleplex East: Search And The City [via /.]

Googleplex East: Inside Google's New York City Headquarters (Photo Gallery)

oh those whacky japanese (human powered cursor)

http://www.1-click.jp/

(flash, big, with sound, start clicky ckicky and movy movy mouse when it be loaded).

mac vs. pc round #13123198

special mousepad: umm, no comment

ok, one comment: who thinks of these things ?

mac basement museum video

For any mcphanbois out there - oh thats all of you.

Remember the dude with 74 dusty macs ? I was pleased to see a Lisa being put to some good use. And Man that iphone newton is huge.

well here is some video of him and his basement.

Vintage Mac Collector

Smart Guys Date in Parallel

Probably a bit late for us married guys now, but apparently the Laws of Love follow the old electronics rule of V = IR...

A very amusing and interesting read though... ;)

Smart Guys Date in Parallel [via Boing Boing]

Real Life Kid-Sized Tetris!

These will be cool in any kid's playroom! :)

Whoa, Kid-Sized Tetris [via Wonderland]

how camera lenses are made

http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/tech/l_plant/f_index.html

One to watch when you have a lot of bandwidth, time and flash plugins at your disposal.

Telstra shuns the iPhone...

Wha?

Seeing they are the only carrier to support EDGE in Australia, you would think they would jump at the opportunity have first dibs in monopolizing on the iPhone fanboy market... but then again what would I know?

Telstra to Apple: 'stick to your knitting' [via Gizmodo]

Well... Duh!

Off Microsoft's actual site... :)

Listening to Users is the Key to Speech Recognition at Microsoft [via Gizmodo]

Launchy

Have a Mac and love to use Quicksilver / Spotlight as your application launcher or document finder, but are forced to work in the windows world for food? Or if you secretly want a Mac. Then Launchy might be the application for you.

I don't know what I would do without Spotlight. Having to actually find documents / applications through all my directories is a major drag. But I've been trialling Launchy for a week now (requires some hacking to get it working in Win2k) and it looks like the Windows solution that I'm looking for.

Hit ALT + SPACE and a Quicksilver like window pops up like so:

Type in the first couple of characters of the app or document you're after and it finds it for you. It's ... unbelievable!

Increase your productivity by keeping your hands on your keyboard longer. :)

Wake up to a nice bowl of... LEGO?!?!

From Kellogg's...

[edit] Ooops, my bad... it's not brekkie cereal, but some form of gummi type candy...

Lego Fruit Flavored Snacks [via Gizmodo]

Happy Valentines Day from Googe...

Googe? Some reckon the stalk of the strawberry represents the L, but do you buy it? Some graphic artist was probably rushing this out in time to out during his lunch break to buy some thing for his honey cos he forgot it was Valentines Day... :P

Anyone else noticed it yesterday while giving our overlords personal info on ourselves using the ubiquitous search engine?

[via Gizmodo]

Google Sightseeing

Okay, so this is not a Google Labs product, but it is a blog about interesting sights during your travels of Google Maps... :)

Google Sightseeing

geeks love heroes

ok, the challenge is on, anyone able to beat these numbers (that my friend sent me) ?

Goo-Big Brother-gle is watching you...

Google appears to be logging what you search for when you are logged in your machine, and most likely you are unaware of this seeing it's using a beta functionality (Google Search History)

Here is a post of how to turn it off... if you are all worried about this data that our Google overlords are capturing about us...

Google search history and privacy [via Boing Boing]

The new CHOICE coffee machine winners

Test: Manual and semi-automatic espresso machines

OK those of us who care already have a machine, but there are a new top 3. Not sure, but I think the 3rd one may be a toaster.

Test results for 15 manual and semi-automatic espresso machines priced between $299 and $995

(hopefully choice won't get upset with me for stating their test results and using their images here ...)

MAGIMIX L’Expresso Program Automatic 11233, $499

 

 

SUNBEAM Café Latte EM5600, $299

 

 

DELONGHI Le Cube EN185.5M+ Aerocinno, $449

 

some good tips

• The standard amount of ground coffee for an espresso is 7 grams for 30 mL of water. If you like your coffee stronger and with more flavour try increasing it to 8 or even 9 grams (if you dare!). Or try reducing the amount of water to about 20-25 mL.
• If you are making a short black don’t run more than 30 mL of water through the machine as it will remove flavour and make the coffee too bitter.
• Always use fresh water straight from the tap or bottled water that doesn’t have a chlorine flavour.
• During the warm up period keep the group handle in the group head so that every part of the machine that comes into contact with the coffee gets hot.
• A warm cup keeps the coffee hot which in turn keeps milk coffee frothy. Some machines have an inbuilt cup warmer, or just run some hot water from the machine into the cups instead.
• If you like milk coffees consider buying a thermometer for your frothing jug. Milk should be heated to around 65-70◦C, any higher you risk burning it.
• Be sure to froth your milk straight after making an espresso, if you wait the coffee will cool down and the crema will start to disappear.
• Aim for a creamy froth with tiny bubbles. Every machine is different so it’s a good idea to experiment with the steam operation. Ideally, steam should be constant and strong so you can froth the milk quickly.
• After frothing, bang the jug on the table to remove the larger bubbles, swirl it around, bang it again and then pour it straight onto the coffee. Clean the nozzle with a sponge between goes.
• Run a small amount of water though the machine after frothing milk to cool the internal parts down. This is important if you are going to make more coffees as the extra heat from the frothing process can burn the grind.
• Play around with different brands and roasts to see which suits you best. One of our testers swears by using local beans over the major players, which he believes to be fresher than those available in supermarkets.
• For the best and freshest tasting coffee, grind your beans just a few minutes before you use them.

Ikea Hacker

Came across this blog which details different 'ikea hacks and mods, fabs and flops' that can be done on our favorite semi-disposable Swedish flatpack furniture.

Ikea Hacker [via Boing Boing]

Mickey T-Shirt with silly writing...

"MICKEY MOUSE - These rendered files have a smail amount of bleed added outside the clipping path. To use this image, first make a selection from the clipping path and copy image."

Apparently these are probably instructions on one layer of the Photoshop file for whatever image of Mickey happens to be on the front of the shirt... :)

Mickey Mouse and clipping paths [via Boing Boing]

dynamite surfing

New Apple Store in Melbourne?

Proposed plans for a new Apple store (akin to the glass cube looking one in SF) in Melbourne!



Wonka-style Apple flagship proposed for Melbourne's Fun Factory site (images) [via Gizmodo]

Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon™

Wow!

Claimed to be the biggest, most spectacular LEGO® Star Wars model ever!



*drool* all for a low low price of AUD$979.95! Yikes!

Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon™ [via Gizmodo]

Gmail for everybody!

Wow... had to do a double take cos I forgot it was an 'invite-only' type of service until now...

Google opens Gmail to all [via /.]

multitouch

Wheel of Fortune - ntt is a star

Just for you Nick, thought you might like to see that you are now famous :)


 

New Getamac Ad: Security

This one is solid gold!

Click here and then click on the Security video

Or

Direct link to the .mov quicktime file

more fatal windows vista exploits

http://www.istartedsomething.com/20070206/more-vista-exploits/

Last week, the media went schizophrenic over the Windows Vista speech recognition ‘loophole’ which allowed anyone with a microphone to have full access over your computer.

read on...

PC lover bites back - I HATE MACs

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2006031,00.html

I hate Macs. I have always hated Macs. I hate people who use Macs. I even hate people who don't use Macs but sometimes wish they did. Macs are glorified Fisher-Price activity centres for adults; computers for scaredy cats too nervous to learn how proper computers work; computers for people who earnestly believe in feng shui.

...

If the ads were really honest, Webb would be standing there with one arm, struggling to open a packet of peanuts while Mitchell effortlessly tore his apart with both hands. But then, if the ads were really honest, Webb would be dressed in unbelievably po-faced avant-garde clothing with a gigantic glowing apple on his back. And instead of conducting a proper conversation, he would be repeatedly congratulating himself for looking so cool, and banging on about how he was going to use his new laptop to write a novel, without ever getting round to doing it, like a mediocre idiot.

...

Ultimately the campaign's biggest flaw is that it perpetuates the notion that consumers somehow "define themselves" with the technology they choose. If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. Of course, that hasn't stopped me slagging off Mac owners, with a series of sweeping generalisations, for the past 900 words, but that is what the ads do to PCs. Besides, that's what we PC owners are like - unreliable, idiosyncratic and gleefully unfair. And if you'll excuse me now, I feel an unexpected crash coming.

ouch. may the wars continue for years to come. I fully expect Han, El & Ry to argue this very topic in 15-20 years time.

(<flame on>I still wonder about form over function - one mouse button by default - that is so 1986 (when I first used a Macintosh in the Maclabs at UWA).</flame on>)

McNaught's Comet

a cosmic event
Originally uploaded by Jirrupin.

An intergallactic blue flame.

Super Bowl Ads...

Hot off the presses! (or intraweb anyways...)

Super Bowl Ad Watch: Top Spots

Windows Vista vs. Mac OS X Leopard

Ding Ding Ding! Round 1!...

Some Apple fanboy was trying to be funny in this upgrade chart comparing Windows Vista and Mac OSX Leopard...



Interesting point to note (from Gizmodo article):
"Leopard isn't available yet, and second, Apple will charge you for each point upgrade of OS X, and you only have to buy Windows once every five years."

But don't you keep paying every day for using and putting up with Windows? ;)

Vista Mac Upgrade [via Gizmodo]

cool ad only on YouTube

Interesting that ads are now being made just for TubeOfYou. Google wants to p0wn u.

Interview with Hamad Darwish, Flickr photographer shooting Vista wallpapers

http://www.istartedsomething.com/20070203/interview-hamad-darwish/

Hamad Darwish might not be a household name, but if you use Windows Vista, then his work is on your computer. In fact, it might be even on your desktop right now! Assuming IDC’s predictions are accurate, then before the end of the year, up to 90 million people will have the chance to see Hamad’s work, and all he had to do was upload it to Flickr.

Does Google really regret censoring information in China?

http://www.miraesoft.com/karel/2007/02/02/does-google-really-regret-censoring-information-in-china/

A year ago I wrote about Google’s hypocritical decision to help the Chinese government with censoring information in China. There was no doubt that this decision was made based on pure business reasons. They sold themselves out to the Chinese government expecting to be able to gain (more) access to the big market in China, even against their own principles.

How To Make a Wii Laptop... Part 2...

The sequel installment of this project which I posted before...

How-To: Make a Wii laptop (part 2)

MacWorld: Why use Lightroom?

Dave, I remember you asking why an app like Adobe Lightroom or Apple's Aperture would be useful when Adobe Bridge already has a lot of the same features... apparently MacWorld has been asked the same:

http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/editors/2007/02/bridge/index.php?lsrc=mwrss

It seems they have a sensible answer.

Supercar top speed run

Ferrari, Lambo (with flaming exhausts) and a remix/sampling of the Knight Rider theme. What more could you want?

Google will the THE internet

When Being a Verb is Not Enough: Google wants to be YOUR Internet.

...

Looking at this problem from another angle, right now somewhat more than half of all Internet bandwidth is being used for BitTorrent traffic, which is mainly video. Yet if you surveyed your neighbors you'd find that few of them are BitTorrent users. Less than 5 percent of all Internet users are presently consuming more than 50 percent of all bandwidth. Broadband ISPs hate these super users and would like to find ways to isolate or otherwise reject them. It's BitTorrent -- not Yahoo or Google -- that has been the target of the anti-net neutrality trash talk from telcos and cable companies. But the fact is that rather than being an anomaly, these are simply early adopters and we'll all soon follow in their footsteps. And when that happens, there won't be enough bandwidth to support what we want to do from any centralized perspective. A single data center, no matter how large, won't be enough. Google is just the first large player to recognize this fact as their building program proves.

It is becoming very obvious what will happen over the next two to three years. More and more of us will be downloading movies and television shows over the net and with that our usage patterns will change. Instead of using 1-3 gigabytes per month, as most broadband Internet users have in recent years, we'll go to 1-3 gigabytes per DAY -- a 30X increase that will place a huge backbone burden on ISPs. Those ISPs will be faced with the option of increasing their backbone connections by 30X, which would kill all profits, OR they could accept a peering arrangement with the local Google data center.

Seeing Google as their only alternative to bankruptcy, the ISPs will all sign on, and in doing so will transfer most of their subscriber value to Google, which will act as a huge proxy server for the Internet. We won't know if we're accessing the Internet or Google and for all practical purposes it won't matter. Google will become our phone company, our cable company, our stereo system and our digital video recorder. Soon we won't be able to live without Google, which will have marginalized the ISPs and assumed most of the market capitalization of all the service providers it has undermined -- about $1 trillion in all -- which places today's $500 Google share price about eight times too low.

It's a grand plan, but can Google pull it off? Yes they can.

The Windows Vista Upgrade Flowchart

Not sure if you should upgrade to Vista?

This might help...



Windows Vista Upgrade Flowchart [via Gizmodo]