WARNING: This Podcast will contain adult language, possible spoilers and massive tangents :WARNING
Please drop us a comment here on the Blog, on our twitters (@OddModlin and @i4n0fd00m) or email us at oddcastblog@gmail.com
Showing posts with label microsoft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label microsoft. Show all posts
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
Geeks, Games and Greatness Podcast: Episode 5 - Anime Part 1
The 5th episode of the Geeks, Games and Greatness Podcast is available for your listening pleasure. We talk about Anime in it's various forms, robots, games and Ian solves Samsung's litigation problems.
WARNING: This Podcast will contain adult language, possible spoilers and massive tangents :WARNING
Please drop us a comment here on the Blog, on our twitters (@OddModlin and @i4n0fd00m) or email us at oddcastblog@gmail.com
WARNING: This Podcast will contain adult language, possible spoilers and massive tangents :WARNING
Please drop us a comment here on the Blog, on our twitters (@OddModlin and @i4n0fd00m) or email us at oddcastblog@gmail.com
Monday, 15 August 2011
Microsoft is upholding the proud American tradition of pillaging and raping the english language.
So I've been an active SharePoint admin for half a year now, and amongst the many things about the product that make me wonder is the capitalisation of SharePoint.
Yes. Capital S, hare Capital P, oint, one word.
MS spellcheck will even bitch at you about bad spelling if you dont capitalise the P.
I put this down as an anomaly until I started investigating PowerPivot today.
And there it is...Capital P, ower Capital P, ivot, one word.
I think that the de-generation of American kids that actually believe that kewl, ossum and skool are real english words have grown up enough to get jobs naming products for Mister Gates.
They dont even have the decency to put a hyphen in.
Yes. Capital S, hare Capital P, oint, one word.
MS spellcheck will even bitch at you about bad spelling if you dont capitalise the P.
I put this down as an anomaly until I started investigating PowerPivot today.
And there it is...Capital P, ower Capital P, ivot, one word.
I think that the de-generation of American kids that actually believe that kewl, ossum and skool are real english words have grown up enough to get jobs naming products for Mister Gates.
They dont even have the decency to put a hyphen in.
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
In The News:
Scientists build first Anti-Laser - Damn! We haven't even got laser guns yet, and they're already coming up with defenses. I want a laser gun....
Ants build cheapest computer networks - Yep, scientists are studying the way that ants dig their tunnels to get an insight into how to build more effective computer networks.
Iceland to tap liquid magma as a new energy source - awesome idea... and I think it's impressive that we have the technology to be able to tap this primal force.
Microsoft releases a development kit for the Kinect system - so we'll soon be seeing some really useful (and cool, no doubt) applications for this motion capture system... time to use that hack to hook it up to my PC then.
Scientists build bigger anti-matter 'bottles' - not so sure I like the idea of them storing more and more of what is effectively the most volatile substance we've ever discovered.
Ants build cheapest computer networks - Yep, scientists are studying the way that ants dig their tunnels to get an insight into how to build more effective computer networks.
Iceland to tap liquid magma as a new energy source - awesome idea... and I think it's impressive that we have the technology to be able to tap this primal force.
Microsoft releases a development kit for the Kinect system - so we'll soon be seeing some really useful (and cool, no doubt) applications for this motion capture system... time to use that hack to hook it up to my PC then.
Scientists build bigger anti-matter 'bottles' - not so sure I like the idea of them storing more and more of what is effectively the most volatile substance we've ever discovered.
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
Taking on the Big Boys
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Even though I joined the evil Microsoft empire (resistance if futile), I do enjoy seeing somebody... anybody... take on this multinational goliath and win. So on the off chance that you don't know about them, this week I'm going to tell you about some easy alternatives to Microsoft products.
The first Microsoft product you should replace is your web browser. Even though IE9 is a lot better than it's earlier incarnations (I'm using the beta for work and it's pretty good), it still can't hope to hold a candle to Google's Chrome bowser, which is my personal favorite. Microsoft is under serious threat in the bowser market, so if you're still using IE, trade up to chrome and be prepared to be astonished by it's silky smooth operation and lightning speed.
Next in line is your Microsoft Office suite. You've probably already paid for this (unless you're a pirate, Aarrr!), without ever considering that there might be alternatives. There are alternatives... in fact, they're free! The first stop for me would be OpenOffice, even if they've recently lost 33 of their top developers to the new solution,LibreOffice... Either way you get a free product that does the exact same things as Microsoft Office.
If downloading and configuring your office product doesn't sound like your cup of tea, why not keep your head in the clouds and use Google's office solution: Google Docs. It runs right in your web browser, so you can access your files from anywhere at any time and with broadband and mobile internet in South Africa only set to improve, it's not a bad bet at all.
So expand your thinking a little, have a look at the incredible Open Source alternatives on the 'net and stop paying 'The Man' such a huge chunk of cash... unless you're paying me to do something Microsoft related... then it's necessary.
In the News:
Electric car recharges in 6 minutes - One of the greatest drawbacks to 'green' cars is being solved.
The Pope warns against a digital world - .... well... he would... wouldn't he?
Military "Laser Beams" getting closer to mass production - so they're still so big they have to be mounted on a truck... who cares? they're Lasers!!! so cool.
NASA Survey Suggests Earth-Sized planets are common - and a good thing too, since we're close to befouling ours beyond hope of redemption.
NASA's Mars Rover Spirit Finds evidence of Subsurface water - so a colony on mars is possible... if you were offered a one-way ticket to the red planet... would you go? .... I think I would.
Kindle Allowing Chinese Unfettered Access To the Web - Awesome! go Amazon!!!!
Word of the Week:
Hypocrite (noun) -
1: A person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2: A person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings
Another week, another post... Thanks to everyone who gives my random scratchings a read... I do appreciate it. If you liked it (or disliked it), post a comment with the links below.... and I nearly forgot... check out my friend's blog Business Minds. :)
-Odd
"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."
-Winston Churchill
The first Microsoft product you should replace is your web browser. Even though IE9 is a lot better than it's earlier incarnations (I'm using the beta for work and it's pretty good), it still can't hope to hold a candle to Google's Chrome bowser, which is my personal favorite. Microsoft is under serious threat in the bowser market, so if you're still using IE, trade up to chrome and be prepared to be astonished by it's silky smooth operation and lightning speed.
Next in line is your Microsoft Office suite. You've probably already paid for this (unless you're a pirate, Aarrr!), without ever considering that there might be alternatives. There are alternatives... in fact, they're free! The first stop for me would be OpenOffice, even if they've recently lost 33 of their top developers to the new solution,LibreOffice... Either way you get a free product that does the exact same things as Microsoft Office.
If downloading and configuring your office product doesn't sound like your cup of tea, why not keep your head in the clouds and use Google's office solution: Google Docs. It runs right in your web browser, so you can access your files from anywhere at any time and with broadband and mobile internet in South Africa only set to improve, it's not a bad bet at all.
So expand your thinking a little, have a look at the incredible Open Source alternatives on the 'net and stop paying 'The Man' such a huge chunk of cash... unless you're paying me to do something Microsoft related... then it's necessary.
In the News:
Electric car recharges in 6 minutes - One of the greatest drawbacks to 'green' cars is being solved.
The Pope warns against a digital world - .... well... he would... wouldn't he?
Military "Laser Beams" getting closer to mass production - so they're still so big they have to be mounted on a truck... who cares? they're Lasers!!! so cool.
NASA Survey Suggests Earth-Sized planets are common - and a good thing too, since we're close to befouling ours beyond hope of redemption.
NASA's Mars Rover Spirit Finds evidence of Subsurface water - so a colony on mars is possible... if you were offered a one-way ticket to the red planet... would you go? .... I think I would.
Kindle Allowing Chinese Unfettered Access To the Web - Awesome! go Amazon!!!!
Word of the Week:
Hypocrite (noun) -
1: A person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2: A person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings
Another week, another post... Thanks to everyone who gives my random scratchings a read... I do appreciate it. If you liked it (or disliked it), post a comment with the links below.... and I nearly forgot... check out my friend's blog Business Minds. :)
-Odd
"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."
-Winston Churchill
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
In the News
Kinect for PC - I can't wait to get my hands on one of these
Emotion recognition in robots - this should make it far easier to interact with robots and machines... imagine if the M$ paper-clip had this?
Amateur discovers 4 planets without a telescope - ordinary people doing extraordinary things... /inspired
5 gadgets to watch from CES - a small report from the Customer Electronics Show... cool stuff
10 websites to watch in 2011 - some say we're heading into another internet bubble... but there are people doing some very cool things.
Emotion recognition in robots - this should make it far easier to interact with robots and machines... imagine if the M$ paper-clip had this?
Amateur discovers 4 planets without a telescope - ordinary people doing extraordinary things... /inspired
5 gadgets to watch from CES - a small report from the Customer Electronics Show... cool stuff
10 websites to watch in 2011 - some say we're heading into another internet bubble... but there are people doing some very cool things.
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
Getting into the spirit
Wow.... Christmas has really ninja'd me this year, I'm left working till the end of the year and not having finished any of my gift shopping. Oi-vey!
If you're expecting a gift from me this season, don't be surprised if you get an I.O.U. ... but then, if you're a friend or relative of mine, you probably know me well enough that you don't need that warning, do you?
I'd like to wish everyone a happy festive season and urge you to experience the holiday in it's true meaning. So instead of spending all of your time stressing about presents, family politics or getting the house 'just right' for visitors: take a step back and enjoy being with your family and friends. You can't have quality time with someone if your mind is a thousand miles away running through a department store trying to get those last minute presents.
Microsoft kills Office anti-piracy program - they've realised that irritating their customers isn't a good thing? ..... nah.... must be another reason.
US Army considers giving all soldiers a smart phone - Are you at war? There's an app for that.
North Korea warns that any conflict with the south would go nuclear - freaking scary.
Japan's low-cost space program is pushing boundaries - Sugoi! big ups.
First measurement of the magnetic field in the earth's core - of course, measurement is only the first (very small) step towards understanding.
Mephitic - Adjective
Happy holidays everyone.... have fun, but be smart! Don't drink and drive and watch yourselves on the road... I insist that you all are alive next year to keep reading this blog... so if you get yourself killed, I'll never talk to you again!
-Odd
"The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. This wasn't for any religious reasons. They couldn't find three wise men and a virgin." - Jay Leno
If you're expecting a gift from me this season, don't be surprised if you get an I.O.U. ... but then, if you're a friend or relative of mine, you probably know me well enough that you don't need that warning, do you?
I'd like to wish everyone a happy festive season and urge you to experience the holiday in it's true meaning. So instead of spending all of your time stressing about presents, family politics or getting the house 'just right' for visitors: take a step back and enjoy being with your family and friends. You can't have quality time with someone if your mind is a thousand miles away running through a department store trying to get those last minute presents.
In The News:
Microsoft kills Office anti-piracy program - they've realised that irritating their customers isn't a good thing? ..... nah.... must be another reason.
US Army considers giving all soldiers a smart phone - Are you at war? There's an app for that.
North Korea warns that any conflict with the south would go nuclear - freaking scary.
Japan's low-cost space program is pushing boundaries - Sugoi! big ups.
First measurement of the magnetic field in the earth's core - of course, measurement is only the first (very small) step towards understanding.
Word of the Week:
Mephitic - Adjective
- poisonous; foul
- foul-smelling; putrid
Happy holidays everyone.... have fun, but be smart! Don't drink and drive and watch yourselves on the road... I insist that you all are alive next year to keep reading this blog... so if you get yourself killed, I'll never talk to you again!
-Odd
"The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. This wasn't for any religious reasons. They couldn't find three wise men and a virgin." - Jay Leno
Thursday, 2 December 2010
The Technological Singularity: A brief explanation
The phenomenon that is being called the ‘Technological Singularity’, if or when it happens, will change our lives in a drastic and fundamental way, so what is it exactly?
Scientists use the term singularity to refer to a question to which they don’t have any answers, such as what happens beyond the event horizon of black hole or the condition of the universe before the big bang. We simply don’t have the tools or knowledge to describe these things, so we copout and say that it’s unexplainable.
But technology is explainable, surely? We’re the ones who built it the first place, yes? Well… no, not really. The Technological Singularity will happen when we create a self improving computer system that is ‘smarter’ than a human, even just fractionally smarter. The system then works on itself, improving exponentially until (in a relatively short period of time) it becomes a super-intelligence, vastly more complex and powerful than a human mind. As the super-intelligence will be so far beyond us, or anything we can imagine, we simply can’t predict what sort of impact it will have on our world.
Can you imagine what sort of answers we could get out of such a system? A unifying theory of the universe, perhaps? Faster than light drive technology for our spacecraft? Unlimited clean energy? Or (knowing what we’re like) weapons capable of ever greater destruction? Will the super-intelligence even bother to talk to such limited beings as humans?
A lot of these questions cannot be answered, and others depend a lot on the environment that the singularity arises in. I think we’d all prefer that the singularity gets kicked off by a group of independent scientific researchers rather than a belligerent military and thankfully there are some people working towards that. The Singularity Institute is a forum of scientists working towards speeding up the Singularity and getting it started under peaceful conditions.
Even given the best possible scenario for the Singularity, it will still have a drastic effect on our society. A lot of people are already having problems adapting to the incredible pace of technological change, what will it be like when the Super-Intelligence puts it foot on the gas? We all need to ask ourselves if we’re ready for this, because it is coming… whether we are or not.
Options Dwindling For Mars Spirit Rover - NASA’s having serious problems getting it’s little robot friend out of a ditch… a call to AAA (alien automobile association) might be in order ^^
Wii Balance Board Gives $18,000 Medical Device a Run For Its Money – A fine example of gaming making technology more accessible to everybody. Go Nintendo!
Google Phone Could Drive Apple Into Allegiance With Microsoft – for a company with the motto “Don’t be Evil”, Google seems to be leaning towards the dark side quite a lot. First it was the whole drama over China and it’s censorship laws and now they’re pushing Apple into cooperation with the borg? Not cool, guys!
Legend – The first book written by David Gemmel is out in a 25th anniversary edition. If you haven’t read this yet, do so!
Well, there you have it… another post down. If you found it illuminating, entertaining or even just irritating, please use the link below to post a comment.
-Odd
“I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.” – Terry Pratchett.
Scientists use the term singularity to refer to a question to which they don’t have any answers, such as what happens beyond the event horizon of black hole or the condition of the universe before the big bang. We simply don’t have the tools or knowledge to describe these things, so we copout and say that it’s unexplainable.
But technology is explainable, surely? We’re the ones who built it the first place, yes? Well… no, not really. The Technological Singularity will happen when we create a self improving computer system that is ‘smarter’ than a human, even just fractionally smarter. The system then works on itself, improving exponentially until (in a relatively short period of time) it becomes a super-intelligence, vastly more complex and powerful than a human mind. As the super-intelligence will be so far beyond us, or anything we can imagine, we simply can’t predict what sort of impact it will have on our world.
Can you imagine what sort of answers we could get out of such a system? A unifying theory of the universe, perhaps? Faster than light drive technology for our spacecraft? Unlimited clean energy? Or (knowing what we’re like) weapons capable of ever greater destruction? Will the super-intelligence even bother to talk to such limited beings as humans?
A lot of these questions cannot be answered, and others depend a lot on the environment that the singularity arises in. I think we’d all prefer that the singularity gets kicked off by a group of independent scientific researchers rather than a belligerent military and thankfully there are some people working towards that. The Singularity Institute is a forum of scientists working towards speeding up the Singularity and getting it started under peaceful conditions.
Even given the best possible scenario for the Singularity, it will still have a drastic effect on our society. A lot of people are already having problems adapting to the incredible pace of technological change, what will it be like when the Super-Intelligence puts it foot on the gas? We all need to ask ourselves if we’re ready for this, because it is coming… whether we are or not.
In the news:
Options Dwindling For Mars Spirit Rover - NASA’s having serious problems getting it’s little robot friend out of a ditch… a call to AAA (alien automobile association) might be in order ^^
Wii Balance Board Gives $18,000 Medical Device a Run For Its Money – A fine example of gaming making technology more accessible to everybody. Go Nintendo!
Google Phone Could Drive Apple Into Allegiance With Microsoft – for a company with the motto “Don’t be Evil”, Google seems to be leaning towards the dark side quite a lot. First it was the whole drama over China and it’s censorship laws and now they’re pushing Apple into cooperation with the borg? Not cool, guys!
Legend – The first book written by David Gemmel is out in a 25th anniversary edition. If you haven’t read this yet, do so!
Well, there you have it… another post down. If you found it illuminating, entertaining or even just irritating, please use the link below to post a comment.
-Odd
“I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.” – Terry Pratchett.
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