bshell writes "With Christmas around the corner I know we are all thinking about religion, or at least maybe wondering why this one religion dominates the rest for these few weeks. A fellow named Rodrigo Braz Monteiro (amz) posted this list comparing each programming language to a religion. Guaranteed to make you chuckle and generate a good long thread here on slashdot. Great way to pass the time as work winds down this week and we relate to our own programming faiths during this very special time of year. Merry PHPmas." Fortunately Pastafarianism is referenced.
When it was introduced two years ago, the premise of the Hybrid Dual Portable Computer was simple: mobile OS up front, Windows XP below, and ugly all over. The most recent refresh was a big visual improvement, but MIU apparently isn't done, teasing another new version that looks far sleeker and packs an Intel Atom processor inside, though exactly which hasn't been revealed. Beyond that, this pocket-wunderkind offers the same bevy of features as before, obviating the need for a separate nav system, PMP, e-book reader, netbook, and even in-car rear-view camera monitor. It'll make phone calls too, and with GSM, GPRS, and CDMA connectivity, you're pretty well guaranteed to be able to check your mail anywhere. No information on price or availability just yet, but hopefully the former stays close to the current version's $500 and the latter extends to somewhere in North America.[Via Pocketables]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Canvas, a planned HTML standard for arbitrary graphical rendering in browsers, presents a game-changing technology for high-quality graphics in AJAX applications, an advocate said at the ZendCon 2008 conference in Santa Clara, Calif. this week.
With Canvas, developers can paint anything they like and are no longer wedded to merely a paradigm of boxes and images, according to Ben Galbraith, co-founder of the Ajaxian.com Web site and a speaker at ZendCon.
"This is sort of a radical departure," he said.
Canvas is a retained image drawing API in which the JavaScript environment sends instructions to the Canvas implementation. Canvas then retains all these instructions and is responsible for doing repainting to the screen, Galbraith said.
"The result is you can actually create some really, really responsive user interfaces," he said.
"Canvas is really, really exciting," Galbraith stressed. The technology is going to change the game for Web application development, he said.
Canvas is part of the proposed HTML 5 standard, which is under jurisdiction of the World Wide Web Consortium and the WHATWG community. There already are multiple implementations of Canvas.
Galbraith touted a responsive text editor he co-developed that was implemented in JavaScript entirely in Canvas and features syntax highlighting. Canvas has functioned in browsers including Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Safari, said Galbraith. It also can work in Internet Explorer through a Google-built experimental bridge or an ActiveX plugin created by Mozilla, he said.
With the Google bridge, Canvas can be mapped to Microsoft's Silverlight technology, said Galbraith. There also is a Canvas API port to Flash as well as a Canvas implementation for AppleiPhone, even though the iPhone itself is not used for writing code, said Galbraith.
Also set to boost JavaScript application performance is the appearance of high-performing JavaScript interpreters, such as Mozilla TraceMonkey and the Chrome interpreter, Galbraith said.
"Today, desktop applications can wallop AJAX applications in terms of performance," Galbraith said. Desktop runtimes are much faster, he said. But TraceMonkey, planned for the Firefox 3.1 browser, is "dramatically faster than the current interpreter," Galbraith said.?
We get plenty of emails from big-time drug smugglers in Miami who want to know: "When will Garmin provide a comprehensive, affordable GPS solution, at home both on the road and the water?" Looks like we're one step closer to an answer with the GPSMAP 600 series. These rugged, portable touchscreen nav units feature a 5.2-inch display (800 x 480) and come with two mounts: when placed in either the marine or auto mount, the device will start up in the appropriate mode. On the road, the domestic GPSMAP 640 ($1,199 MSRP) provides the maps, turn-by-turn directions, custom POIs and proximity alerts you expect. On the water you get aerial POI views and optional BlueChart g2 Vision for underwater 3D perspective. Rounding things out, XM WX Satellite Weather data, XM Satellite Radio and XM NavTraffic are available with the optional GXM 40 antenna and subscription. The international GPSMAP 620 ($999 MSRP) is a bit scaled down, with street maps and marine chart data available through the SD card slot. There you have it, kids -- and keep an eye out for Crockett and Tubbs![Thanks, Rich]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Maybe you like the convenience and portability of Google Docs, Zoho, or any of the myriad other online office suites and scheduling applications out there, but you're not crazy about posting your documents and organizational data to Google or anyone who can guess your password. OpenGoo, a free office package that's easy to install on nearly any modern web space, gives you go-anywhere access to your own documents, calendar, contacts, tasks, and even email. We took OpenGoo through a test installation and grabbed a few screens to show off the suite's slick interface and features, so read on to see how you can test out your own web-as-desktop experience without pledging allegiance to any one web firm.
If you just want to take a peek around OpenGoo without any commitment, the team has put up a live demonstration where anyone can create, edit and delete anything, though it's cleared out every day. Be prepared for some files named LULZ, in other words.
If you really want to try it out yourself, the first step, as you might imagine, is heading to OpenGoo's web site and downloading the latest release in zipped format. If you're planning on installing OpenGoo on your own web space, it's simply a matter of un-zipping the archive and transferring the folder inside to your server, wherever you'd like to access it. I renamed the folder from opengoo_1.0 to simply opengoo for easy of access.
If you want to try out OpenGoo without posting it live online, you can easily do so with a package like the WAMP Server for Windows, MAMP for Mac OS X, or installing Apache 2, mySQL 4.1 or higher, and PHP 5 on your Linux system (here's an example guide for Ubuntu). Extract the OpenGoo folder to your "www" folder wherever your server package ended up installing.
Wherever you installed OpenGoo, head to that directory in your web browser--c:/wamp/www/opengoo would be a likely spot for WAMP installers, for example—and you'll be re-directed to an automated installation script page, similar to a WordPress installation:
Hit "Next," and OpenGoo will run checks to see if you've got all the required extensions and permissions to run. If you're on your own system or a modern web space you rent, this should be a quick pass. Hit "Next," and you're at the database setup:
If you're using a tool like phpMyAdmin, it's definitely a good idea to create a new database for OpenGoo and give it its own username and password. If not, at least give the root user a password, rather than leaving it as the default blank. If you've got the details right, OpenGoo will work for a few minutes, show you a "Finished!" page, then ask you to create an administrator account and password, along with an email address for lost or forgotten passwords. You'll have to supply a company name, but you can obviously put whatever you want in there.
Once that's all done, you'll be dropped at OpenGoo's main page (which I smooshed in my browser a bit to fit in a screenshot):
The universal calendar view is pretty darn helpful, giving you a glimpse at all your events, tasks, and "milestones" (basically projects that organize tasks) in one view. As you add documents, notes, and web links to your workspace, they'll show up here as well.
Now to the basics—writing and saving documents. There aren't any spreadsheets in OpenGoo 1.0, but the editing tools for documents and PowerPoint-esque slideshows are pretty extensive:
If you're a fan of pre-2007 Word toolbars, OpenGoo's in your corner, seemingly. You can hide all those toolbars, though, by clicking the tiny little arrow in the left-most stripe. What everyone's going to notice first off, and likely call a deal-breaker, is that you can only save this document as a formatted HTML file. To download it as that, even, you have to head back to the main documents screen. I don't think it's necessarily a bird flipped in the direction of proprietary Word formatting, or even the ODF/OpenOffice movement, but an indicator that OpenGoo is where you go to work on documents, not pull off conversions. Copying and pasting my text in the screenshot into Word 2007 worked just as I'd hoped, with colors, formatting and sizes carried over.
One solid difference between OpenGoo and big-name online docs sites is its catering to multiple users and standard business practices. Check out what you can do with a document when selecting it in the Documents overview:
As you can see, you can download any version of a document (also in HTML-only), "checkout" the file to prevent others from editing temporarily, move it to another workspace, link it to other documents or notes and calendar appointments, and create "subscribers" who get notified when changes are made.
We spend a lot of time checking out brand-new calendar tools at Lifehacker (seriously). OpenGoo has some of the most robust features for a new launch we've seen, with Outlook-compatible invitation sending, tagging, smart repeating events, object linking, and custom "properties" to create super-smart searches later:
Rather than loading this page with even more huge-screen pics to slow down loading even further, I'll say that OpenGoo's notes, contacts, tasks, links organizer, and calendar tool share are all of an intriguing, if not quite newcomer-friendly, piece: They're all well thought-out, efficient, and powerfully connected, but getting data into and out of OpenGoo at this point doesn't seem intuitive. There's no clear import or export functions, certainly not for non-HTML formats, so it seems like OpenGoo is mostly a place to start fresh with a new project or team.
Having said that, one more cool feature of OpenGoo is its support for integrated email—POP for now, with IMAP to soon come. Setting up POP mail is a familar fill-in-the-blank game with usernames, passwords, ports and servers. I saw an option for enabling "Exchange compatibility" during setup, and the email writing interface is a decent rich-text affair, with (no surprises) tagging, object linking, and custom categorization.
Those are the basics of OpenGoo's roll-your-own online office suite, though you'll find a lot more by checking it out yourself, including the ability to back up your entire document space to an off-site file, support for multiple clients/companies/groups, and an auto-upgrade features to save everyone a lot of FTP headaches.
Tried out the live demonstration or fired up your own copy of OpenGoo? Like what you see, or see a lot of promise? Can't imagine working without Microsoft Office compatibility baked in? Tell us your take on OpenGoo in the comments.
Reader RJ writes in with his/her perfect combination of extensions and user styles that make working with tabs easier: TabMix Plus, Locationbar² and Stylish (with a custom style). RJ explains:
It might not look like much to some, but this combination of add-ons has made it a lot easier for me to work with tabs, and moreover, improves the look and feel of the browser by making it more interactive and accessible. I have shared this with some of my coworkers and friends and their reaction has been very positive.
Here's the rundown of what does what (with links) and a screenshot.
TabMix Plus formats the text on the tabs. There are formatting options for active and inactive tabs.
Locationbar² stylizes the URL bar. You can set a color and/or bold the domain in the URL bar.
Stylish further improves the URL. (I find this to be very handy) NOTE: When using Stylish with Locationbar², the Locationbar² options for adding color or making the domain text bold won't work. You will have to do this by editing the CSS stylish sheet. This isn't hard.
Locationbar²: CSS mods style uses different colors for different document types. Currently there are three different "colored" groups:
Dear Lifehacker, Windows Media Player hijacked my MP3 files and converted them all to WMA. I want to change them back easily in one sweep—but am not the most savvy user. Help? Signed, Gimme My Beats Back Original photo by Mark Kobayashi-Hillary
Dear Gimme,
Microsoft has made some, ahem, interesting decisions over the years regarding the Windows Media Player user experience (and Apple is no saint in this regard, either). First, we'll take a look at how you can keep this from happening in the first place, and then we'll explain how you can fix the problem as cheaply and easily as possible.
Friends Don't Let Friends Use Default Settings Open Windows Media Player. Click the Library tab at the top, then click on the Layout Options drop-down menu and select Show Classic Menus. Now click Tools > Options... The first Options tab to note is Player. You might want to deselect "Add media files to library when played" — it will save you disk space (and format headaches) in the long run. Click the Apply button to save your changes. Rip Music is the most important tab. Under Rip settings, the default format is WMA, which is how our reader got messed up in the first place. At least you can select mp3 now — in version 9, only WMA was supported. Even more insidious is that Copy protect music is also checked by default.
Why someone would want to add DRM to music they already own on a CD is beyond me, especially since it means that the files won't play back on non-approved devices and any machine you copy the files to will have to be online to download permissions. Switching to mp3 will automatically turn this off. Finally, to get Windows Media Player out of your life, go to the File Types tab. De-select everything except for Windows Media File (ASF), Windows Media Audio file (WMA) and Windows Media Video file (WMV). That way double-clicking an MP3 file won't automatically open in Windows Media Player (which, if you didn't turn off the add media to library option, would also create a duplicate copy on your hard drive).
What's frustrating about this is that in writing this post, I turned off the file type associations once in the initial Windows Media Player setup wizard. But when I opened Options to make the above changes, all the file types had been re-selected — because unless you've installed another program to handle those file types (such as iTunes or Winamp), the Windows operating system will restore the defaults to Windows Media Player.
Format Conversion is Your Library's Salvation
Now at least you can use Windows Media Player to rip CDs without having to worry about your library being trapped in Windows Media Audio format with DRM. But your existing library is still trapped. What do to? If your WMA files aren't copy protected, iTunes will allow you to import your Windows Media Player library. However, by default it will convert them into Apple's proprietary AAC format. So after installing iTunes, don't choose to convert your existing library during the setup wizard.
Instead, go to Edit > Preferences. On the General tab, click the Import Settings button. Now select MP3 as your preferred format.
To import your Windows Media Player library, to to File > Library > Import Folder. Select the My Documents > My Music folder, and click OK. If you have a large library, this could take a while.
Open source music player Songbird will also import and convert your non-DRM Windows Media Player library into MP3 files. Or you can batch convert files with WinFF, a graphical interface for open source conversion tool FFMPEG — Jake Ludington has a guide, with video, on using WinFF. Once iTunes, Songbird or WinFF has converted your library, you can play, copy and share files any way you like — even with Windows Media Player
If you have a small library, or there are a few files that just refuse to cooperate with the above DRM-removal and format conversion tools, you could burn the tracks to CD and then re-rip as MP3s. Or try AnalogWhole — it's slow because it basically plays back the protected file, records the output, and then converts that to MP3. But it's free and it will defeat DRM on anything that plays back in Windows Media Player. You'll lose a little bit of quality in the conversion, but you'll gain back the freedom to play your music when, where and how you like.
The most important thing to remember is that you're not alone. Any readers out there care to commiserate in the comments and share some experiences and tips? In the meantime, we hope this helps.
click to enter
Konami's booth may not have been one of the larger booths at Tokyo Game Show this year, but it was certainly the most visible. It was nearly impossible to miss Konami's booth considering it was the very first thing you'd see after passing through the media entrance.
Anyway, what did Konami show on the floor? Its showing this year was all about sequels. The company dropped names for games from the Suikoden, Silent Hill and Castlevania series, just to name a few. Grab your tickets for the Konami Booth Photo Tour and see Konami's wares. It's free!
Linux only: QuickStart, a free automation utility for Ubuntu Linux systems, makes it easy to perform partial or full system backups of any partition, synchronize folders and update them on a schedule, and take care of other tasks a beginner would normally need to spend serious time researching. The tiny app opens a simple interface listing your choices, although dialog prompts guide you through any steps requiring input. The tools for installing DVD playing codecs, backing up your Master Boot Record, and creating synchronized backups seem particularly helpful, and while I haven't tested every function, a handful of them completed without any problems. QuickStart is a free download for Ubuntu systems only; both links below carry non-terminal installation instructions for the script.
When you choose a smart phone, it's wise to first figure out which operating system will work best for you. We tested four major smart phone platforms to see which is best for specific tasks.
We're not sure how well this method sits with your T-Mobile TOS, but a process has been revealed to share the G1's high speed wireless access with a laptop via USB. Configuring the necessary apps, drivers and settings is a bit more involved than a simple 2 or 3-step process, but it's all explained (and definitely followable) in the link. Actually, we'll put it this way: The method looks a lot easier than shelling out the cash for another 3G data plan. [TmoNews Forums via jkOnTheRun]
Reporting its sales for the fiscal half-year today, Ubisoft also announced two software delays. "In view of the good first-half trends and the positive outlook for the third quarter, Ubisoft has decided that Anno as well as the as-yet unannounced franchise which were previously scheduled to be released in 2008-09 will now bolster the line-up for 2009-10," reads a release schedule update from the report. To be clear, Anno and "Unannounced Franchise" are likely two unrelated projects -- the former a strategy game set in 1404 and the latter, well, that's anyone's guess.The vague articulation of the mystery delay leaves the details open to speculation. Is this a new franchise? Or a new entry in an existing franchise? We'll update when we've got clarification.
While not as grandiose as having your own secret bookshelf door, constructing a hidden USB data stash won't take a whole weekend and involve a table saw. At the DIY website Instructables there is a step by step tutorial on hiding your data behind a phone jack plate. By wiring a USB cord to the phone plate and making a USB cord with a phone jack terminal at one end, you'll be able to access your secret data stash. If you're not up for a bit of wire splicing and soldering, check out our top 10 USB thumb drive tricks.
You know those insect-like micro air vehicles (MAV) we've been seeing? Well, the ExoFly aerobot is based on that camera-equipped DelFly design, only this time it's gearing up for a trip to Mars -- maybe even Titan or Venus. Turns out flapping-wing flight is perfect for the low-density Martian atmosphere. The current prototype -- weighing 17g with a wingspan of 350mm and flight time of twelve minutes -- is being tweaked for use in future missions to Mars. The folks at Delft University of Technology and Wageningen University, who've teamed up with Ursa Minor Space & Navigation, plan on increasing the weight to 20g and adding an on-board solar cell, which they reckon should extend the flight distance to 15km. There's also talk of using the digital terrain and image data gathered to simulate a 3D immersive environment for detailed analysis of extraterrestrial destinations -- hopefully viewable by those of us who don't have the billions to drop on a flight to Mars.[Via New Scientist Space]
Ubisoft released its Q2 results yesterday for the 2008-09 fiscal year. Sales totaled €175 million (US $220.24 million), beating the previous forecast of €160 (US $201.36 million) and ending up 37% higher than the same quarter last year. The financial report cited the successful launches of Soul Calibur IV in Europe and Hell's Highway, as well as sales of Imagine Teacher, My Secret World and -- Joystiq's favorite -- PlayZone Sports Party.It's worth noting that 39% of Ubisoft's Q2 sales came from the Nintendo DS, up from 23% same time last year. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 each represent 20% of the slice, followed by the Wii at 11% and PSP/PS2 at 2% and 1%, respectively. For Q3 holiday season, Ubisoft is expecting €500 million (US $629.25 million), up 11% from same time last year. It's also raised its forecast for the full fiscal year from €1.02 billion to €1.05billion (US $1.32b).Source [PDF]
While not as grandiose as having your own secret bookshelf door, constructing a hidden USB data stash won't take a whole weekend and involve a table saw. At the DIY website Instructables there is a step by step tutorial on hiding your data behind a phone jack plate. By wiring a USB cord to the phone plate and making a USB cord with a phone jack terminal at one end, you'll be able to access your secret data stash. If you're not up for a bit of wire splicing and soldering, check out our top 10 USB thumb drive tricks.
Maybe you like the convenience and portability of 
Reader RJ writes in with his/her perfect combination of extensions and user styles that make working with tabs easier: TabMix Plus, Locationbar² and Stylish (with a custom style). RJ explains:
Dear Lifehacker, Windows Media Player hijacked my MP3 files and converted them all to WMA. I want to change them back easily in one sweep—but am not the most savvy user. Help? Signed, Gimme My Beats Back Original photo by 
Open Windows Media Player. Click the Library tab at the top, then click on the Layout Options drop-down menu and select Show Classic Menus. Now click Tools > Options... 
The first Options tab to note is Player. You might want to deselect "Add media files to library when played" — it will save you disk space (and format headaches) in the long run. Click the Apply button to save your changes. 
Rip Music is the most important tab. Under Rip settings, the default format is WMA, which is how our reader got messed up in the first place. At least you can select mp3 now — in version 9, only WMA was supported. Even more insidious is that Copy protect music is also checked by default.
Finally, to get Windows Media Player out of your life, go to the File Types tab. De-select everything except for Windows Media File (ASF), Windows Media Audio file (WMA) and Windows Media Video file (WMV). That way double-clicking an MP3 file won't automatically open in Windows Media Player (which, if you didn't turn off the add media to library option, would also create a duplicate copy on your hard drive).
If your WMA files aren't copy protected, 
Instead, go to Edit > Preferences. On the General tab, click the Import Settings button. Now select MP3 as your preferred format.
To import your Windows Media Player library, to to File > Library > Import Folder. Select the My Documents > My Music folder, and click OK. If you have a large library, this could take a while.
Linux only: QuickStart, a free automation utility for Ubuntu 
We're not sure how well this method sits with your T-Mobile TOS, but a process has been revealed to share the G1's high speed wireless access with a laptop via USB. Configuring the necessary apps, drivers and settings is a bit more involved than a simple 2 or 3-step process, but it's all explained (and definitely followable) in the link. Actually, we'll put it this way: The method looks a lot easier than shelling out the cash for another 3G data plan. [
While not as grandiose as having your own 
