KnowledgeByte Blog

Apple has more cash the the US Treasury department

2011-08-09T21:07:00.001+01:00

At 20:40 Max Keiser talks about how if Apple were to become a bank, that with up to 80Billion US$ they could leverage that sum to 800Billion and become a trillion dollar company equivalent to something like JP Morgan (BTW JP Morgan are likely to fold – see KR 170)

Dot matrix waterfall

2011-02-25T19:12:00.001Z

Amazing waterfall

This is a dot matrix array driving a water printer. Impressive use of technology

Linear brushless motor

2010-11-01T20:09:00.001Z

Here’s what looks like a first example of a linear brushless motor mounted to a standard pushbike. Doesn’t look like it has much torque, but for a first attempt, looks promising

Filming of Toyota Auris-hybrid

2010-10-31T10:54:00.001Z

Managed to track down the creators of the video commercial for the new Toyota Auris, Hybrid. Impressive array of technology. The wheels are surrounded by phosphorescent lighting strips used in boutique hotels and discos. The rest is lighting projectors, 3D CGI mapping overlays. The second video shows the manufacturing process of the car. You get to see how relatively small the battery pack is. The battery pack is covered for 8 years under warranty and can be factory returned and recycled. At one time it had a solar roof, but for the UK at least, they took it off, because it wouldn’t be cost effective, plus in the concept car it looks a bit distractive
The battery uses NiMh – Nickel Metal Hydride technology which is environmentally friendly according to Wikipedia, There is also a very interesting and revealing post on patent encumbrance by Texaco/Chevron. It’s well worth the read, because it explains why up until recently, why there have been few pure EV cars like the iMiEV on the market..

72 Windows 7 phone tips

2010-10-26T11:48:00.001+01:00

Reposting a tips blog post

New Toyota Auris hybrid hits the UK

2010-10-15T02:13:00.001+01:00

My next car perhaps?

Toyota Auris hyrid. 70mpg. We shall see..

What is BI–Business Intelligence

2010-10-09T20:09:00.001+01:00

I am currently brushing up on SharePoint 2010 BI and stumbled upon a Office 2010 Developer Training kit

Download

Windows 7 phone–recipe vault

2010-10-08T16:36:00.001+01:00

Windows 7 Phone - Office 2010 mobile and SharePoint

2010-10-05T12:33:00.001+01:00

Very nicely done indeed. Make’s an iPhone look like a toy by comparison

Windows 7 Phone–Office Mobile/SharePoint–yeah baby!

Microsoft Lightspace

2010-10-05T10:37:00.001+01:00

Interesting video demonstrating a 3D interactive system, whereby presenters can move light objects around a table, from table to screen, or person-to-person utilising infrared sensors Aka an interactive surface. I think we may have borrowed some ideas from external folk, because I have seen something similar using a reverse engineered Wii remote and a wearable interactive projection system. Cool tech though. Look’s like you need a steady hand to not drop the ball

Popplet

2010-10-02T19:02:00.001+01:00

Interesting application for sharing ideas via a kind of white-boarding flowchart like app. Also available on the iPad

Here’s a video done with Popplet for a Work Smart from FastCompany

The age of gadgets

2010-10-01T11:57:00.001+01:00

At the tail end of this video short from Engadget on the Jimmy Fallon's Late Night Show, you’ll see a quadricopter flying in the studio, controlled from an iPhone. Some very clever stabilisation electronics in the puppy, that’s for sure:

The AR.Drone uses a pile of pretty sophisticated magic to enable it to fly -- those aforementioned cameras are just the start (one forward facing, one facing down running at 60 fps that allows stability in light wind) because you've also got two ultrasonic transmitters for vertical stability, a three-axis accelerometer, and a two-axis gyroscope paired with a single-axis yaw precision gyroscope for good measure

Windows Phone, Blackberry control to be added later hopefully A tad pricey though at $299

NeoSmart - EasyBCD

2010-09-26T12:55:00.001+01:00

So, the final tweaks are under way. I created a P2V VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) of my existing boot OS, using the System Internals Disk2VHD utility. I then updated the boot configuration data using the GUI based EasyBCD utility from NeoSmart
Next I plan to see if I can mount the same .VHD under hypervisor on my server, though I suspect it won’t mount properly. My plan is to boot natively to a clean VHD I normally use for demos and have my main OS hosted under Hyper-V on my server and remote into that. I will then strip down the old file based OS and expand the local boot VHD to be my primary OS, keeping differencing files for tests
The main aim is to see how fast VHD’s are in the cloud/server when accessed via terminal services, or on external drives whilst also providing backup and instant restore scenarios
Ultimately I’m looking for a way to have a image based ‘locked-down’ instant restore capability, were, no matter what happens I can always get back to a stable OS
Updates, patches etc. always lead to an unstable OS that ends up bloated unreliable and difficult to troubleshoot

NeoSmart EasyBCD

Why women live longer then men?

2010-09-25T18:21:00.001+01:00

Easy does it ;-)

Gmail–priority inbox

2010-09-18T14:30:00.001+01:00

Well now that Microsoft have Mail Sweep, GMail now improve there already good web mail product
Nicely done video

Captain Jack Flash–SPAM assassin extraordinaire

2010-09-13T10:47:00.001+01:00

Here’s a very funny SPAM smail I received today. Make I laugh

From: patrick lenz [mailto:patricklenz33@gmail.com]
Sent: 13 September 2010 05:30
To: MSN
Subject: Re: Celica

Hello,
Thanks for your reply.
I want to inform you that i will buy your car for your last price but I have a business proposal for you. I am a captain with the United Nations troop in Iraq, on war against terrorism. Based on the United States legislative and executive decision for withdrawing troops from Iraq come this year, I have been deployed to come and work in your country's military base soonest. Our mission is to help beef up terrorist targeted states, mostly the United states and the European Union on the war against terrorism. I will need a car for myself and that is why i contact you. On the other hand i want to inform you that I have in my possession the sum of 10.2million USD. which was recovered from one of our raids on terrorists here in Iraq because they keep most of their money at home for evil activities which they normally get through illegal deals on crude oil.
Based on the suffering we undergo here some of us do meet such luck. It happened that i went for this raid with the men in my unit and i decided to take it as my share for my stress here in this evil land filled with suicide bombers. I deposited this money with a red cross agent informing him that we are making contact for the real owner of the money. It is under my power to approve whoever comes forth for this money. I wish to use this money for charity purposes in Turkey, where we have about 3 million Iraqi refugees and Sudan where we have currently the highest numbers of refugees displaced as a result of war. You need to visit such places. I want to invest the money on stock fish from Norway to this refugees because base on my experience on battle ground in this places, they lack a lot of fish and meat to add to their meager and unpalatable meals which they get in little quantity just to keep them living until God knows when the problem ends. Instead of allowing this terrorists to get the money and spend it on purchasing arms illegally from Russia and North Korea it is better channeled to saving the world.
I cannot move this money to the United states because i will be in Europe for about 3years,so i need someone i could deal with. If you accept, I will transfer the money to Europe where you will be the beneficiary because i am a uniformed person and i cannot be parading such an amount so i need to present someone as the beneficiary. I am an American and an intelligence officer at that so i have a 100% authentic means of transferring the money through diplomatic courier service .I just need your acceptance and all is done.
Please if you are interested in this transaction i will give to you the complete details you need for us to carry out this transaction successfully. I decided to find someone that is real and not imaginary and that is why i went to a secured car site where i can be sure that the person is real. I believe i can trust you. where we are now we can only communicate through our military communication facilities which is secured so nobody can monitor our emails, then i can explain in details to you. I will only reach you through email, because our calls might be monitored, I just have to be sure whom i am dealing with. If you are interested please send me your personal mobile number so i can call you for further inquiries when i am out of our military network. I am writing from a fresh email account so if you are not interested do not reply to this email and please delete this message, if no response after 3days i will then search for someone else. I am doing this on trust, you should understand and you should know that as a trained military expert i will always play safe in case you are the bad type, but i pray you are not.10.2million USD is a lot of money which is the dream of anyone.
I wait for your contact details so we can go on. In less than 7days the money should have been noted on your account and i will come over for my money. I will give to you 30% of the sum and 70% is for my dream. I hope i am been fair on this deal.
Regards,
captpatricklenz

Samsung galaxy 10

2010-09-04T08:40:00.001+01:00

Interesting prototype of a new slate like device. Would that be WebOS, or Samsung’s own OS I wonder?. Going to be a busy Xmas and onwards in the portable space that’s for sure

New Arc TouchMouse

2010-09-04T08:19:00.001+01:00

The old Microsoft Arc-Mouse is great, but this latest edition is way cooler!, a pocket mouse no less, arf

SharePoint 2010–Productivity hub

2010-09-03T22:55:00.001+01:00

Just installed SP2010 Enterprise and installed the free productivity hub from Microsoft. The hub includes Office 2010/SharePoint 2010/Win7/IE8 etc. content packs including videos, documents and links to blogs, coaches (tutors) and is nicely skinned in Silverlight just for good measure
So that means a company who is hosting SharePoint 2010 can avail of a free training portal by way of a this site collection add-on. Very impressive set of documentation

Download here
Demo site here – you’ll need to login as corp\demouser with pass@word1 to see the content. You may also need to install Silverlight via the plug-in

Calibre - e-book management application

2010-08-06T11:43:00.001+01:00

Interesting little application that allows you to control content on multiple devices plus a rather neat ability to pull online newspaper content from the Internet and pull/push to multiple devices such as the Kindle, iPad, HTC phone etc. Look’s like a winner

Windows 7 phone development - silverlight slipstreamed videos

2010-08-03T12:47:00.001+01:00

Fast forward to 14:51 to watch a nice demo of a silverlight application interface showing off a Mix2010 video slipstream on a series 7 phone

Project Hilo - Windows7/Vista desktop animation

2010-07-27T09:26:00.001+01:00

Picked up a tweet from Channel9 Microsoft’s developer site on a new project looking at new and interesting ways to leverage touch based systems to give you a Microsoft Surface like experience on the PC/laptop. Fast forward to 5:30 minutes to see the actual demo. The rest is mostly about the architecture and coding
re-quote:
“Project “Hilo” is a series of articles and sample applications that demonstrate how you can leverage the power of Windows 7, Visual Studio 2010 and Visual C++ to build high performance, responsive rich client applications. Hilo provides both source code and guidance that will help you design and develop compelling, touch-enabled Windows applications of your own. Join Yochay Kiriaty and James Johanson for an introduction of Project Hilo, a quick tour of its architect and design principles

Additional information about the project can be found in the Introducing Project HILO post, and on MSDN – Hilo: Developing C++ Application for Windows 7”

Mix10–s Windows Series 7 Phone for developers

2010-07-23T18:05:00.000+01:00

Following on from a great demo of the up and coming series 7 phone, I thought I’d post this up. Great to see you can paste Silverlight embed code directly into Live Writer and that Blogger, accepts it! Live Spaces sucks in this respect :-( - just strips the code out

Google map for mobiles

2010-07-22T12:22:00.001+01:00

I’ve been quite impressed with the Bing utility for Windows Mobile, especially the GPS location and tracking facility along with Speak ‘voice searches’ translated in to text based searches piped into Bing.com
Google have launched a cool little application (small .CAB file) that gives you street level maps including Street View photographs linked to your location. Ideally you need Wi-Fi or 3G as the photos are quite dense and slow to load
Below is a shot of Cirencester a T junction looking south. Note for some countries they may not have a street view. You can rotate around the spot, including pointing at the floor or sky!

It also has some nice features like layers; Wikipedia, Buzz, Traffic etc. The get directions also let’s you input post codes, like GL7 6NQ UK. My old address and Wikipedia has some interesting info like the local train station at Kemble and a local footballer. Impressive

Gruber assist - bike to e-bike conversion kit

2010-07-04T09:52:00.001+01:00

Awhile back I watched a video my bro sent me of what looked like Cancellara using a doped racing bike. This has never been proved/ But the kit does exist to convert an existing bike into a covert e-bike, with the motor housed in the main frame seat down tube using a bevel gear drive

Phillippe Starck – species mutation

2010-07-03T19:56:00.001+01:00

Genius or madman? Somewhere between I dare say, but nonetheless a sentient and highly intelligent individual whose design inspires others. He is currently working with the Pramac Racing team on their Green Energy program, specifically on their livery as witnessed during last weekends Mugello MotoGP
Here, he is speaking at TedTalks. Very French and very funny and a very mercurial personality

Live Essentials (beta) Wave 4

2010-07-03T19:52:00.001+01:00

Wow! I’m just loving the new Live Essentials beta updates. Live writer always was a great blogging tool, but this version is awesome. Plus, all the other Live wave4 tools and the web companions rock! Well done Microsoft, a round of applause is much due

Predators tools

2010-07-03T19:37:00.001+01:00

Go and kill a site using the Predators tools. Cool! Love the sound effects

http://www.predators-movie.com/predatortools/

Spring is sprung

2010-06-14T16:35:00.001+01:00

‘Grass is riz, I wonder where the birdies is? quote
Some early garden shots taken during a weekend visit to Mount Juliet, near Stoneyford, Kilkenny county

Mount Juliet - June 2010

VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Slide show

Kitchen art - Lumenico

2010-06-13T13:07:00.001+01:00

These are some early prototypes of of brothers Kitchen artwork project. He is a electronics/lighting expert and is currently specialising in art projects for communities

http://lumenico.com

Early examples of hang gliders

2010-06-13T12:56:00.001+01:00

I was looking for some trailer dimensions for one of my Microlights when I stumbled on some early examples of hang gliders made from simple aluminium tubing and polyethylene sheeting and drafting tape!

Wikipedia “Author: Barry Palmer (1961) This is possibly the predecessor of the earliest example of a modern hang glider. It is one of 7 or 8 gliders built by engineer Barry Palmer. The first, which was built of salvaged aluminium tubing, polyethylene sheeting and drafting tape, had an out of pocket expense of $10.89. The spars and keel were 22 feet in length, so launches of the 40 lb aircraft could be accomplished easily even in no wind. Flights got up to 600 feet in length and as high as 80 feet. The last of the series flew in the summer of 1962, and had a swinging seat, which expanded the flying capability and control well beyond the "true hang" armpit supports. The triangle control frame begun in 1891 for hang gliders,at least, was incorporated in at least one of the photographed hang gliders by Barry Hill Palmer”

Visible Earth - NASA

2010-06-06T19:48:00.001+01:00

Found this amazing photograph courtesy of Visible Earth – NASA

HDR using Photo stitch?

2010-05-23T14:38:00.001+01:00

This is a test photo I took on the way home today on the back road coming into Thomastown. It is made up of four photos stitched together using Microsoft’s Live Photo Gallery photo-stitch tool. There are two left side shots, top and bottom and two right side shots top and bottom. Each had under and over exposure, simply by the fact I was pointing towards the ground and sky

Windows phone series 7 – yes please!

2010-05-19T18:52:00.001+01:00

Now that’s the way to do it

Lexus e-bike prototype

2010-05-16T19:47:00.001+01:00

Early prototype of the Lexus e-bike. Both VW and Lexus are having a stab at the e-bike market, but like the GoCycle they have some way to go yet to produce a lightweight, pedal driven stowaway that meets the criteria of low cost, low consumption, small environmental footprint and long range i.e. >65Km
This model looks over designed and would benefit from rear suspension to take the knocks out of the stiff carbon fibre frame – flax would be better, or just plain old aluminium would do. Overall though there are some nice touches, like the Kevlar drive and hub-based gears and neat cable-work tightly integrated

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Model citation jet

2010-05-16T12:20:00.001+01:00

Nicely flown model plane. Considering the wind, that was a cool bit of flying. Mind you, a little bit of wind will make it that bit more stable on landing providing there is not too much low level turbulence

Pivot and other stuff

2010-04-24T22:38:00.001+01:00

I’ve been off air for the last few months mostly coming up to speed on Office 2010 whilst developing some rather cool Excel training materials in PowerPoint 2010 as a potted set of training materials with hands-on demos, combined with videos and narration
In between work and play I’ve also been developing a new company selling e-bikes over at http://cyclotronic.eu. A 2 year incubator company selling LEV (Light Electric vehicles) whereby I intend to have my own branded models and technology at a some stage. Grin factor 10 when you ride an e-bike into town, especially when you power up the hills – it’s like being a bionic man! Muscle power + electricity – a powerful cocktail for you adrenaline junkies and not to healthy types as well..
Out of the Office 2010 apps, Excel 2010 impresses; mostly due to the outstanding speed it loads and performs calculations on Pivot table data. With Power Pivot it can handle a million rows of data on the 32-bit version and 100’s of millions of rows in the 64-bit version of Excel 2010 allied with Windows x-64 bit + oodles of RAM
How does Power Pivot work? Clever compression algorithms that compress data both on disk and in memory .. more
Gary Flake of Live Labs demos Microsoft Live Power Pivot. He shows off rather impressive PhotoSynth (Silverlight?) like application that can be used to Pivot web data. You can download it here. There will also be a Silverlight application you can embed in your own site, with your own content later this summer 2010

MS PP site
MS PP Gallery site – password is Pass@word1

Office 2010 documents shared on FaceBook

2010-04-24T12:48:00.001+01:00

Interesting collaboration project with FUSE at Microsoft Cambridge Research, Docs.com and Facebook whereby you can edit and share Office 2010 docs in the cloud with your friends and colleagues. Currently invitation only
One of several incubation projects under Ray Ozzie’s tutelage to further Social cohesion

PowerPivot for Excel

2010-02-28T21:34:00.001Z

I’m just brushing up on my Excel skills prior to Office 2010 going to RTM later this year
I noted that the PowerPivot site has some good demos and hands-on labs available via www.powerpivot.com. There is also a good blog and two sample sets of data (pivot sample data) here and (SQL Server data) here
For a Windows 7 installation, for the SQL data set for Adventure-works demo, you will need SQL Server 2008 Express edition with Advanced services from here. Instructions and prerequisites here. NOTE: You have to install SQL Server Express SP1 BEFORE you commence the main install and reboot the system. Then you won’t get any compatibility warnings and fail the ‘restart’ section of the install! SP1 is more of a pre-patch

Outlook social connectors

2010-02-22T10:49:00.001Z

Social connectors are links into external sites like Linkedln, Facebook, MySpace and Windows Live. They show up in your contacts, or during mail creation in the lower pane
Quote: “The Outlook Social Connector allows you to synchronize your contact data right into Outlook and obtain information about your friends and colleagues. See status updates from various networks and recently posted files.
Easily track your communication history. Use the Outlook Social Connector to display a quick view of related Outlook content when you click on an email from a contact, such as recent e-mail conversations, meetings, and shared attachments. Developers can connect and feed social streams from line-of-business applications or integrate their solutions directly into Outlook”
They also work work with earlier versions of Outlook 2003/2007. Compatible versions of Outlook 2010 beta-32bit include, Home and Business, Professional Plus and Pro

BPOS anybody? – Business Productivity Online Services

2010-02-19T11:01:00.001Z

Just signed up for a 30 day trial of BPOS, aka Microsoft hosted services in the cloud. It’s early days, but the basics are already up there. When Office 2010 & SharePoint 2010 are out, later this year, I hope to see BPOS provide Word/Excel/PowerPoint and maybe OneNote 2010 in the cloud, alongside the existing hosted services. Should be a winning solution as a light-touch, non-infrastructure solution for small to medium sized businesses; possibly large enterprise businesses as well, although some may prefer to handle their own infrastructure/data storage and security concerns
As a user with the Standard Business suite you get: Exchange Online, Live Meeting, Office Communications Online, SharePoint. With the Deskless worker suite, you get Exchange Online, SharePoint Online (read only)
If you have Outlook 2007 or the 2010 beta installed, you will be able to create a separate profile in Outlook to handle exchange mail or you can use OWA – Outlook Web App, cloud based email
Live Meeting 2007 can be based in the cloud (web based) or via the Live Meeting console. Communicator 2007 R2 can be cloud based or you can download the client. There is also a BPOS client that you can download which acts as a launch-pad. If you sign-in as a Desk-less user you get a minimal subset of functions (third graphic shown)
The administration is fairly straight forward for someone with limited technical skills, plus there is plenty of online help to configure Exchange and SharePoint etc. You can migrate your domain across and your Exchange accounts/MX records via downloadable tools. You can also do bulk uploads via a .CSV file

iPad

2010-02-09T17:50:00.001Z

Would I buy an iPad? Nope, not until I see version 2, with a camera, more books and PC like apps that I can use
Do I like the look of it? Sure, it’s pretty, but I’m not impressed with 10 hours of battery life, nor how big it is, nor how heavy it is. First thing that will happen, is it will roll off your knee or you’ll drop it with a resultant cracked screen
If you get a chance to hold a Amazon Kindle v2 (not the DX model) you’ll see what an e-reader should be all about. The Kindle fits in my jacket pocket, runs for a whole week on one charge, can be held whilst reading and is very easy on the eyes
I think the iPad is competing with better net-books that have a full app suite, touch and probably as good battery life. It also kind of competes with their own MacBook..
If they came in at $299 I might be interested, but at $499 I could buy a Lenovo net book with Windows 7 and have touch with a full app suite
Pretty? Pretty useless in my honest opinion. Video on the go? Any net-book can do that. They should have made it thinner, lighter and focussed squarely at the books market. It’s really just an iPhone on steroids but without a phone!
People are already taking the mickey out of it. It’s a shame, because I think Apple make some amazing products and their app-store is sheer genius

Jay Leno’s garage – Audi R8-10

2010-01-23T19:10:00.001Z

Jay owns an V8-R8, which he loves to bits as an manual gearbox out-and-out racer. Here he walks us through the updated V10 version
Mad economy, 20mpg!! Not the sort of car to go to the shops with, but great for the odd track day – if you have the money and the free time

Ribbon Hero

2010-01-21T10:44:00.001Z

Now that we’re well passed the beta stage of this add-in I thought I’d give it another go
What does it do? It’s role play tool that sets you challenges and measures your performance using Microsoft Office applications… and.. let’s you score points against you buddies and colleagues via Facebook. Kind of Mr. Clippy, but this time you win balloons!
In Office 2010 there will be social connectors made available at a later stage, which in theory let you connect to Facebook, twitter etc and presumably share your skills via data mining emails or.. via metrics gathered via role play tools like Ribbon Hero
I suspect this will end up forming part of a training platform via role play possibly with metrics linked to your job; maybe even linked to a remuneration scheme. Hard to tell how this will be routed. But there is plenty of scope for diversification
I’d prefer a WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation)application training guide hooked into the ribbon to smart-sense what it is I’m trying to do, then present me with a number of options and let an WPF avatar trainer walk me through the process – hell, why not do the work for me, so I can take the day off and go flying ;-) Man that’s what I call being productive, arf

CycleOps Powertap SL Plus Hub System

2010-01-09T00:01:00.001Z

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Interesting take on a smart-hub. No this is not a powered hub, but a torque sensor that delivers data on your workout when you are training. It can be hooked up with the Garmin 705 GPS based training watch as well. Too expensive IMHO. It’s for the really ‘serious’ riders out there, who need to do their winter training off the road combined with a CycleOps Jet Fluid Pro Winter Turbo Trainer Kit

More info:

Top Features of the CycleOps Powertap SL Plus Hub System

Wireless 2.4 GHz transmission with Ant+Sport
15mm alloy axle
Carbon/alloy hubshell
USB download
Coded heart rate strap
Hub weighs a mere 412 grams
Patents issued and pending
Displays and records:
- Peak Power
- Time in Zones
- Power (current, average, max.)
- Heart rate (current, average)
- Cadence (current, average)
- Speed (current, average, max.)
- Energy expenditure (total kjoules)
- Ride distance (miles or km)
- Ride time
- Programmable odometer
What's in the Box
- Powertap Hub
- Coded CPU
- Coded Heart Rate Strap
- Handlebar Mount
- USB Download Connector Cable
- Poweragent 7 Software
- Cable Ties
- Battery Cover Removal Tool
- Instruction Manual & DVD

Pro level power measurement: Powertap SL+ in either Shimano or Campagnolo configurations, with various hub hole sizes, and supplied with a Powertap CPU and Heart Rate strap.

We've updated the world's first-ever wireless power meter, giving it a stiffer axle and the flexibility of ANT+Sport. Now you can choose to focus on power measurement to have your best season ever.
Power to the People: With a wide range of features, there is a Plus Series PowerTap for every rider - every ability - and a wide price range. The SL+ maintains the same standard of accuracy as our first-ever wireless PowerTap but with a lighter, stiffer 15mm axle. Which PowerTap is right for you?
The Precision of PowerTap, The Flexibility of ANT+Sport: Data can be the difference between first and second. PowerTap is the precise instrument that gives you access to real-time performance measurement, and is accurate to within +/- 1.5%. Add the PowerAgent software package, and you'll have all the tools you need to guarantee you make the most of your data.
With the flexibility of ANT+ Sport, all Plus-series PowerTaps can be paired with any ANT+Sport device. So, use the included PowerTap CPU or provide your own device to stop estimating and start measuring.

First pedelec (e-bike)

2010-01-08T22:20:00.001Z

A short video showing my first foray into the e-bike market. I bought the Cyclamatic Power Plus a low cost CE approved pedelec. Technically an e-bike is a throttle activated only bike, whereas a pedelec is peddle assisted, i.e. you peddle and a motion sensor kicks in and spools up the brushless electric motor. Maximum speed is limited to 25kph, range >40km. I’ve added a decent lock and a set of 25W LED lights. This will be my main commute bike when I work in Dublin. I’m going to import a couple more, then build my own from scratch using a custom built carbon fibre frame and custom electronics as a basis to building a business model

Garbage powered cars anybody?

2010-01-07T07:46:00.001Z

Webcam chat at Ustream

This video is from the LA Autoshow 2009. After the first guy drops out, Brian Nesbitt comes on and talks about E85 (ethanol) based fuel and the difference between the European manufacturers. Bottom line, the Yanks are dragging their heels and shouldering up to the big ‘oil’ power..

First e-bike setup and test

2010-01-06T19:22:00.001Z

Posted earlier on this bike from SportHQ, advertised on Amazon for £499, but luckily for me I spotted it had dropped to £399 in the January sales. Tim at SportHQ was kind enough to lower the price!
It arrived a few days later over the Xmas break. I unpacked it and had it assembled, tires inflated via my car electric pump and off we went. It’s a Pedelec, which means as you peddle it engages to 250W brushless electric rear hub motor, seamlessly making hill climbing a synch! It has a 24V 10Amp battery, 7-speed Shimano SIS derailleur, rear hub brake and standard front calliper brake. The battery can be removed for charging. The handbook says to connect the battery charge plug into the battery prior to connecting the LiPol charger to the mains. You then reverse the process by pulling out the mains supply plug, a relay is heard to drop out, then disconnect the battery connector. The battery box is sealed from water, so should be rain proof. Comments on Amazon rate this bike at 4.5 stars, with one complaint about some of the bolts rusting. This can be easily remedied with a little grease or household Vaseline and general maintenance with the oil can every couple of weeks. Front suspension is average quality, but for the town/city it is adequate and you could always buy a seat post knuckle-over suspension like the SR SUNTOUR SP-NE
I took it for a spin around my close up and down a 10 degree incline and hardly had to use force to get uphill. Just freewheel to disengage the motor, peddle to start again and the peddle sensor detects the main chain-wheel moving and engages the motor. The split throttle can also be twisted towards you to manually engage the motor. The throttle doesn’t incrementally step up, but there is no sudden jolt, the motor just spools up, so it’s more of a switch. I will try a few more hills with steep inclines to know more of how the pedelec system performs

Product Features

17" mountain bike frame (suitable for use from 5ft 5 to approximately 6ft 2) - 250 watt brushless motor
New Lithium-ion battery provides huge power (up to 45km range) and weighs a fraction of traditional lead-acid batteries. Also won't suffer 'memory effect' and has a very low self-discharge rate -
Shimano Tourney SIS-Index gears with quick-shift - Adjustable height seat raises to up to 43" from the ground
Servo "anti-cling" safety brakes - premium front suspension for comfort
Quick release battery and front wheel - Front and rear mud guards - Legal for road use - no road tax or driving licence required. Legally, no helmet nor insurance required (although we recommend both!)

Smooth pilot

2010-01-01T05:26:00.001Z

Ralf Losemann certainly does make flying a model jet look easy. Here he is putting his new baby, the BD-5 jet through its paces. The landing was near perfect. It looks like an excellent aerobatic machine

Blackstairs mountains

2009-12-31T23:27:00.000Z

This photo was taken late summer before the deluge started. Looking forward to taking to the skies again in 2010!

Juicedriders.com – China trip

2009-12-28T20:31:00.001Z

Juicedriders.com is a play on words for bikes that are juiced with batteries, i.e. powered. This video shows how extensively the Chinese are using e-bikes to ferry children and goods on a daily basis. 2009 China sold 21 million e-bikes internally and have 100 million e-bikes on the road. They outsell cars 2:1 – 12 million cars hit the streets in 09, 1 million per month! China still has an impressive growth rate of between 8-9% per annum. E-bikes are their biggest sellers. They have been riding e-bikes for years now, being originally based on lead-acid batteries

Sony – die based solar cells

2009-12-28T17:21:00.001Z

Sony have come up with an ingenious idea, pigment based solar cells that can be created in any design

Chevy Cruze at Jay Leno’s garage

2009-12-28T14:28:00.001Z

Early version of the 2011 GM Chevy Cruze. Does 40mpg, possibly more as it’s a pure electric hybrid utilising a 1.4ltr petrol decoupled engine driving a generator. 40 miles on the electric motor alone, no step-down functionality (powers up motor for power boost) unlike the Prius, although it does have a sport mode giving you 120W of power. Uses Li-ion (Lithium Ion)) batteries down the central tunnel and under the boot. After battery discharge, engine kicks in to give drive only power with charge being necessary from home; does have regenerative braking with disk based stop-through for faster breaking. Charge time 6-8 hours on 120VAC or 3-4 hours on 240VAC

Atkinson cycle!? My surname in fame..

2009-12-28T06:28:00.001Z

Ford fusion car with a Atkinson cycle hybrid engine. The Atkinson cycle leaves the inlet valve open for longer during the induction phase loosing some low end torque which is compensated by combining the electric motor during acceleration. The new Toyota Prius uses this technology along with regenerative braking and a heat transfer pump, taking exhaust heat away to keep the engine warm during pure electric phase of driving. 2.5 ltr. donkey!? Are you kidding me! The Prius uses a 1.8 VVti engine giving roughly 50mpg combined – theoretically >72mpg.
This puppy does 42mpg urban (city) and 36mpg extra-urban (highway) with a combined of 39mpg ‘theoretically’; more like 35mpg in the real world according to the-truth-about-cars. It weighs in at circa 3,800 pounds or 1.9 imperial tons!
Waste of money? We should see some better hybrids on the market in 2010, for now my advice is stay away from them. Is this a hybrid? No not really, more like a ‘light hybrid’ with a gas-guzzler engine. A 3 cylinder modern diesel-electric (with a particulate filter) would be the best hybrid I reckon, perhaps combined with a capacitive battery utilising emerging carbon-nanotube technology

Chevy Equinox – hydrogen fuel cell SUV

2009-12-27T21:09:00.001Z

Jay takes the Chevy Equinox for a spin. range >300 miles, output, water. Zero pollute technology apart from the carbon used to produce it. Electric motor with 1:1 gearbox differential. Three hydrogen compressed gas tanks, storing 2.2x3=6.6kg of fuel
In Q3 2010, we should see the 2011 Chevy Cruze go to market, a lighter, leaner looking car, sweet

Atkinson cycle!? My surname in fame..

2009-12-27T19:26:00.001Z

Ford fusion car with a Atkinson cycle engine hybrid engine. The Atkinson cycle leaves the inlet valve open for longer during the induction phase loosing some low end torque which is compensated by combining the electric motor during acceleration. The new Toyota Prius uses this technology along with regenerative braking and a heat transfer pump, taking exhaust heat away to keep the engine warm during pure electric phase of driving. 2.5 ltr. donkey!? Are you kidding me! The Prius uses a 1.8 VVti engine giving roughly 50mpg combined – theoretically >72mpg.
This puppy does 42mpg urban (city) and 36mpg extra-urban (highway) with a combined of 39mpg ‘theoretically’; more like 35mpg in the real world according to the-truth-about-cars. It weighs in at circa 3,800 pounds or 1.9 imperial tons!
Waste of money? We should see some better hybrids on the market in 2010, for now my advice is stay away from them. Is this a hybrid? No not really, more like a ‘light hybrid’ with a gas-guzzler engine. A 3 cylinder modern diesel-electric (with a particulate filter) would be the best hybrid I reckon, perhaps combined with a capacitive battery utilising emerging carbon-nanotube technology

Jay Leno goes green?

2009-12-27T13:22:00.001Z

Jay Leno’s garage is err.. ginormous and he has some impressive gas-guzzlers for sure, but he’s also a keen motorcyclist by the looks of it and is interested in the whole EV/Green motors

His green site

Zero motorcycles

2009-12-27T12:47:00.001Z

Nice e-Mbike from Zero Motorcycles that does 60mph, range 60 miles and can pop wheelies :-)
Jay Leno has an vast garage and he needs to loose some pork, so e-bikes might be the route for him, arf

Frisbee – endurance e-bike

2009-12-26T23:22:00.001Z

Here you see Umberto Marchese (born 1941) at the grand old age of 60 racing in the Giro delle Dolomiti (the Dolomites in Italy) in 2007 on his Frisbee e-bike. That bike has some range and this guy is pretty fit for an old guy!

Here Umberto is doing a run from Denmark to Italy a distance of >200Km per day, covering a total distance of 3266Km in 15 days in June of 2009

GRACE – e-motorbike?

2009-12-26T22:21:00.001Z

GRACE have created a custom built allow frame housing a 1300AH Lion battery (how would you replace them!?) frame mounted speed controller utilising a 1300W motor. They say it’s a motorbike and are asking for about €5877 for this puppy. Nice idea, but way too expensive for what is really a custom built mountain bike with a overly large motor. Range is only 30-50km range and a top speed of 45kph (street version is limited)

Park flyers

2009-12-25T17:20:00.001Z

I used to fly the Multiplex PicoJet and MicroJet back in the UK at a local field. I still have an old TwinJet which I haven’t flown for awhile due to lack of power as I used to have to bungee (catapult) it to get it off the ground safely. RCPower.com have come at the problem by using extra light foam combined with the latest in small but extremely powerful brushless motors

Funny video of the new Welgard GH2212-06 brushless motor from GraysonHobby

Jet powered RC – where have we got to?

2009-12-25T14:23:00.001Z

I stumbled across a really great video of the Jet powered LAVI flow by 3D RC jet pilot Ralf Losemann of Germany (fully aerobatic – similar to Heli-3D), more like 2D, but still very impressive flying – never seen a model jet thrown around the sky like this before!

Model GeeBee

2009-12-24T19:25:00.001Z

Very impressive model GeeBee with radial engine. Very well flow too, especially the inverted turns, spin and flips

Worlds smallest V12 engine perhaps?

2009-12-24T19:15:00.001Z

And the worlds smallest super-charged V8!

E+ – Electric bikes

2009-12-24T18:49:00.001Z

Another company out in Northern Virginia called Electric Motor Systems have an interesting take on the e-bike, they incorporate the battery in the front hub. Some smart electronics on the handlebars including a computer providing battery usage etc. also provides a human charge cycle, whereby the cyclist recharges the battery

Bicicletta - Whisper

2009-12-24T18:22:00.001Z

This is the first truly professional looking video from an outfit over in the UK selling e-bikes. Well overpriced at £1,249.99! But hey, they have no competition yet. I don’t see the need to pay more that £500 for an alloy framed bike with suspension, and cable based brakes. There are plenty of other people entering the market within the £500 range

Above is the Ultra Motor from Kozy Cyclery in Chicago

Amazon selling e-bikes

2009-12-24T13:14:00.001Z

Just spotted an e-bike called the Cyclamatic Power Plus for £499 on Amazon. The actual seller is Sport HQ and they do two bikes, a mountain/tourer and a foldaway. Not a bad price for an Alloy frame and a Shimano group set. Note the electric hub on the rear wheel supports and integral brake
The battery looks like a decent size and the hand throttle is well detailed with a battery meter and on/off switch. The battery is detachable and lockable. A nicely detailed example of what an e-bike should be. It’s only 24V, so don’t expect radical torque on take-off; more aimed at longevity than out and out power

Product Features

17" mountain bike frame (suitable for use from 5ft 5 to approximately 6ft 2) - 250 watt brushless motor
New Lithium-ion battery provides huge power (up to 45km range) and weighs a fraction of traditional lead-acid batteries. Also won't suffer 'memory effect' and has a very low self-discharge rate -
Shimano Tourney SIS-Index gears with quick-shift - Adjustable height seat raises to up to 43" from the ground
Servo "anti-cling" safety brakes - premium front suspension for comfort
Quick release battery and front wheel - Front and rear mud guards - Legal for road use - no road tax or driving licence required. Legally, no helmet nor insurance required (although we recommend both!)

YikeBike

2009-12-20T21:01:00.002Z

Not what I call a comfortable ride, but the YikeBike puts an interesting spin on the concept compact e-bike. Lack of range and durability look like its main sticking points. OK for small local rides on smooth surfaces. Certainly a fun concept, but I can’t see it going mainstream, especially with an expected price tag of between €3500-3900

In search for the perfect e-bike

2009-12-19T21:50:00.001Z

I’m whittling down the options for creating two e-bikes out of two existing mountain bikes I have languishing in my garage. The best so far is from http://www.cyclone-usa.com using a brushless motor that mounts under the main ring gear, thus giving the advantage of using the main gears for hill climbing and cruising
The brushless motor includes a “DC motor featuring an integrated planetary gearbox that significantly multiplies the motor torque” combined with 360 or a 500W motors. The 500W looks like the one to go for with speeds up to 26mph on the flat using a 26” rim whilst drawing between 15/20 accelerating and >40amps climbing. The best power to weight battery appears to be the 24V 20Amp/hr Lion (Lithium-ion) giving a range of up to 45 miles on the flat
The kit:

Fitted:

Project – hill climber. 12-18mph >6% incline, with no pedalling!

ERockIT – EV bikes

2009-12-19T12:39:00.001Z

Just discovered this video up on break.com of an electric bike that is more of a motorbike than a pushbike. Like www.izipusa.com, Stefan Gulas of www.erocket.net has created a pedal based system that uses an pedal servo accelerometer to govern speed. Too expensive at €30,000, but for an early prototype, you’d expect that exclusive price tag

Irate granny

2009-12-18T19:04:00.001Z

Funny video of a guy in a Merc who decides to hassle an old granny – big mistake dude

Granny Airbag - Watch more Funny Videos

EV - Bikes

2009-12-18T18:59:00.002Z

I’m about to convert an old mountain bike languishing in my garage to an electric bike and have been researching who are the leaders in the field
This year was the first time they raced EV motorbikes and Brammo Racing came third

Tesco entertainment anybody?

2009-12-16T10:34:00.001Z

My wife is a big fan of Michael Bublé, so today I moseyed over to the new Tesco entertainment site and within 10 minutes had setup my account added my Tesco club-card and started downloading the Crazy Love album for £3.97. The same album on iTunes is £7.97, so a whopping £4 saving
Well done Tesco. Now’s who’s going to beat them? Spotify maybe? The other players had better get real with their pricing structure, because now that Tesco has entered the fray, the musical pundits will now be forced to give us genuine market prices and the torrents will eventually die off, as people will prefer to have legal ownership

Can Dad’s dance?

2009-12-15T17:06:00.001Z

Robert Llewellyn demonstrating how Dad’s end up dancing in middle age. True? yeah sadly so, arf

MIT – Project elEVen

2009-12-12T13:27:00.001Z

Radu Gogoana a MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) is leading a team of engineers that are building a prototype EV (electric vehicle) that uses 8000 Li-ion batteries driving a 250bhp motor capable of up to 200 miles. They hope to be able to charge the system in about 10 minutes after final trials using a smaller battery pack. The car weighs circa 2 tons and has a 0-60mph in <9secs. The weight of the motor and batteries alone makes this car non-viable, but the research work will no doubt produce some interesting results
MIT are also working on carbon nanotube (capacitive) batteries as an alternative to ‘dirty’ Li-ion/Li-Pol batteries. The environmental impact of these legacy battery technologies outweigh their worth due to the chemical fallout involved in production

MIT are also developing virus built batteries, quote:

“To achieve that, the researchers, including MIT Professor Gerbrand Ceder of materials science and Associate Professor Michael Strano of chemical engineering, genetically engineered viruses that first coat themselves with iron phosphate, then grab hold of carbon nanotubes to create a network of highly conductive material.

Because the viruses recognize and bind specifically to certain materials (carbon nanotubes in this case), each iron phosphate nanowire can be electrically "wired" to conducting carbon nanotube networks. Electrons can travel along the carbon nanotube networks, percolating throughout the electrodes to the iron phosphate and transferring energy in a very short time.

The viruses are a common bacteriophage, which infect bacteria but are harmless to humans'”

PDC09 – Professional Developers Conference – streaming videos

2009-12-09T18:37:00.001Z

XP Mode revisited

2009-12-06T11:25:00.001Z

I have another PC at home that needs to be upgraded from Vista – Win7 and might have some malware. So I fired up my Virtual Image based version of Windows 7 and then fired up Virtual PC 2007 XP Mode

That way, say if someone visits a site that might be infected, I just shutdown the XP session and it’s sandboxed into oblivion..
I also recommend Microsoft Security Essentials as an alternative to AVG9, as 9x has become clobber-ware, i.e. all the good things taken out of it

Bing maps (beta) in Silverlight & PhotoSynth

2009-12-06T09:58:00.001Z

Now I’m seeing the big picture. Mosey on over to the Bing Maps site and play around with the new Silverlight interface with street-eye view. Very impressive use of PhotoSynth integration with 360 degree panoramic views. Take a walk around Capitol Hill
Next I daresay this will appear on our mobiles. ‘Take me to the best Thai restaurant and show me how to get there with a street-eye view with GPS overlay’ With a virtual ‘you’ ghosted over the GPS overlay, as you walk along.. got to be on the cards :-)

How to change your Windows7 login background

2009-12-06T08:47:00.001Z

On the theme of how to actually change your Login screens background without any third party tools , watch this short video – beware do not change any other parts of the registry! you’ve been warned
Here is the direct path:

Folder path: %windir%\System32\oobe\Info\backgrounds . Note the Info folder is already there, so just add ‘backgrounds’
Folder name: backgrounds
File size: >256KB with .JPG extension

How the Windows 7 login screen came to be

2009-12-06T08:20:00.001Z

Denise Trabona, Senior UX Lead (User Experience) walks us through how the Windows 7 logo (login) background was developed. After a good amount of fruitful internal work Microsoft decided to look to an external illustrator called Chuck Anderson of NOPATTERN
You can see some of Chuck’s work on Flickr

Kindle for the PC

2009-12-05T20:35:00.001Z

I’ve heard a lot about Amazon’s Kindle, but I don’t want to fork-out for the cost of one, given that both Apple and Microsoft are due to bring our competitors in the New Year. I discovered they do the Kindle app for iPhone, Blackberry and even the humble PC

Kindle for the PC

Bing Mobile Search – Windows Mobile

2009-12-04T16:42:00.001Z

Once in awhile I see a compelling little app like Bing Mobile, which includes live maps and GPS location or approximation via your mobile network. I tried the Google Maps equivalent, but much prefer this app. If you live in the USA you get Live Traffic and Gas (fuel) prices. The full moving map with GPS tracking is way cool and if you fall out of coverage there is still a tracer in place until you regain a signal. You can also Speak your destination and it will search according to what the voice recognition software thinks you said. Close enough providing your not in a noisy car. I’m assuming you would use this at a halt, or to find a restaurant etc. Not bad for a free bit of software. Tom-Tom and co, much be worried.. it’ll kill their market share big-time!

Download for the client

Racing Green – electric tour

2009-12-02T17:42:00.001Z

Just picked this up via #carpool (twitter) on The London Imperial College’s partnership with Radical Sports SR8 to modify an existing sports car into an EV Electric vehicle. The aim is to start from the southern most tip of South America and travel to the northern most tip Alaska. Looks like it will be a very hard ride! Capable of 390Km distance and peak power of 500 BHP! 0-100km/hr in 7s. I’d like to know the data on CO2 output based on battery usage and production. So weight for weight, how much CO2 does this car consume over the journey including it’s creation… carbon fibre production probably has fairly high carbon footprint
Looks like we’re set for EV F1 racing at some stage.. Formula 1-EV anybody?

Microsoft Security Essentials

2009-11-28T16:47:00.001Z

Quick blog post on MSE, which is Microsoft’s free antivirus/anti-spam tool. I sometimes boot into an XP Mode virtual PC for demos and was using AVG, but noticed that AVG 8x had more functionality than 9x, more of a downgrade than an upgrade..
Works with all Windows 32bit based systems, no support for 64bit at present

Microsoft Security Essentials

Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of Sixth Sense technology

2009-11-19T08:11:00.001Z

Interesting take on emerging digital human interface technologies that Pranav Mistry is developing. He plans to make it open source

Secret knock detector anybody!?

2009-11-19T07:25:00.001Z

Picked this up via MSN videos then found his site www.grathios.com
Me thinks this device will fall off the door as it’s suction based. Funny though and a complete waste of time. I once adapted a remote control device to open a door lock solenoid, you just pressed the remote clicker and kicked open the door. Once I forgot the clicker and had to give the door a extra hard kick with a log (sic) to force the door lock. Front doors like these are notoriously easy to break through

Full length video of Atlantis launch

2009-11-19T07:02:00.001Z

Pretty impressive launch of Atlantis. The final tank separation was clean and you can see ice coming off the last main engine prior to shutdown and pre-orbital alignment . Fast-forward to 8:30 to see main tank separation

yellowBird – 3D movies anyone?

2009-11-17T17:05:00.001Z

Picked this up from #carpool on Twitter. Pretty cool technology. I especially liked looking backwards at the skiers

P2V - Creating a Virtual Hard Disk (.VHD) from a physical disk

2009-11-15T10:17:00.001Z

I’ve started experimenting with Virtual Hard Disk (.VHD) bootable environments under Windows 7. There is a free Disk2VHD tool available for converting a physical disk to a VHD. I have already created a training .VHD which I boot to for my WorkSmart training. I used the WDT (Windows Demonstration Toolkit) version of Windows 7 Ultimate and bundled Office 2010b on to it. Works like a dream, boots fast and yes you can run XP Mode Virtual PC in that environment
I already posted on VHD Resizer, a tool from VMTOOLKIT that let’s you take an existing .VHD file and resize it to a Dynamic or Fixed disk .VHD. The only thing you need to do after resizing it, is to boot into the resized disk and using the Disk Management tool, extend the partition size to the new size. I discovered when using BCDEDIT to enter the .VHD into the partition table as a mount point, that the new size is not reflected

Roaming hacker

2009-11-15T09:19:00.001Z

I was just reading a blog BornToLearn at MSLearn.net and stumbled across this supposed hacker – could be a spoof, not investigated it yet, but from all accounts this guy is for real – funny he hasn’t hit the prime-time TV news yet..

Hacking a train station

Hacking building lighting systems

Hacking a train station

Hacking building lighting systems

Hacking a train station

Auslogics – Disk defrag

2009-11-14T22:47:00.001Z

I still think the Auslogics Defrag tool is the best thing since sliced bread for Windows 7. You can set it to load at start-up and run in the background as a scheduled service, or shutdown after completion. Not bad for a free tool!

Auslogics Defrag

Tweetdeck on the iPhone

2009-11-12T09:53:00.001Z

Almost tempted to go out and buy an iPhone.. That app-store looks very compelling.. perhaps I should hold off, otherwise I’ll end up extending my OCD way out of limits, arf :-)
In fact I’m more of the mind to disconnect entirely at weekends etc. and dump the mobile altogether - get a life dude

Free e-book: Deploying Windows 7, Essential Guidance

2009-11-12T08:22:00.001Z

Micro-blogging via Twitter is way cool, you just link to any blog/site and harvest the best tweets on your chosen subject matter. It’s akin to an RSS subscription in may ways, but using tools like Tweetdeck and Twhirl from Twitter downloads you can catch-up and follow fellow Tweeters and blogs alike.
I’m following MSL – Microsoft Learning. They are looking to garner some exam beta testers. I suggested they think about using Twitter as a platform for this, perhaps a Yammer group would be better as I don’t think you can have a private channel on Twitter

Deploying Windows 7, Essential Guidance

Outlook 2007 - could not install custom actions. the object could not be found

2009-11-03T10:52:00.001Z

Got this error yesterday and it turns out that a file called FRMCACHE.DAT had become corrupted
Close Outlook, delete the file in C:\Users\user-x\AppData\Local\Microsoft\FORMS (replace with your own username) and restart, now you can right-click on objects – this also didn’t work

MS Learning Silverlight videos

2009-11-02T20:26:00.001Z

Also included is Silverlight video demos, see previous post on the MSL offline e-learning player

Microsoft Learning: Windows – Training Portal

2009-11-02T20:09:00.001Z

Free MS Learning materials for Windows 7 are available
Plus you can download the e-player to view offline

What's New in Windows 7 for IT Pros (free) New
What's New in Windows 7 for Information Workers (free) New

Microsoft Learning: Windows – Training Portal

Spotify – playlists on Twitter

2009-11-02T00:03:00.001Z

Just listening to Robots from Kraftwerks and note there is now a Spotify twitter site for ‘best of’ music being listened to and tweeted on leading to top lists on tracks, artists and album. I wonder when Spotify will have a DAB’s channel, or work with say BBC Radio1 – seems a logical path to me. DJ’s should leverage this social aspect of sharing and delivery

Spotichart

Arctic sea ice almost gone

2009-11-01T09:34:00.000Z

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Freak weather in the USA and Philippines is raising concerns amongst scientists, government and military officials about the fallout should the arctic ice caps melt completely. Policy makers in the USA, both Republican and Democrats.. are meeting to discuss how they might turn around the massive destruction of the polar ice caps and glaciers by injecting an aerosol like artificial cloud (sic) into the upper atmosphere by employing military jets or a mile high tower (sic) at a cost of circa $7 billion per annum
On further reading up on MSNBC, there is grave concern that we are entering a run-away-train situation with the ice caps melting entirely in the next 5-10 years (sic). The question remains what if anything can we do to reverse the unexpected accelerated ice-melt that is now being witnessed
It’s interesting that since global warming was initially reported that no news coverage is now being given to this serious situation.. it’s as though the news organisations have been told to zip-it and not fan public concern – read more:

Expert: 'Almost out' of old Arctic sea ice
Willing to give up blue skies for climate fix?
Europe OKs climate aid, but not amount

AA - pilots busy using their laptops!

2009-11-01T09:15:00.000Z

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Apparently the American Airlines pilots who over flew their intended destination were busy on their laptops!
Well when I’m flying, my hands are firmly on the controls and my mind is fully on the job in hand

Auslogics – disk defrag

2009-11-01T09:03:00.000Z

Updated disk defrag tool for Windows/7. Very cool tool, as Win7 doesn’t have a native GUI for defragmenting files. Can run in background, at Windows start up, multi-drive, move system files etc. For a free tool it’s very good

Download from CNET