Twins separated at birth?
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Archive for April, 2009
Windows 7 free for one year
Microsoft is giving away Windows 7 free for a year with the launch of the Release Candidate. The ReleaseCandidate is now available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers, and will go on unlimited, general release on 5 May. The software will not expire until 1 June 2010, giving testers more than a year’s free access to Windows 7. “It’s available to as many people who see fit to use it, although we wouldn’t recommend it to just your average user,” John Curran, director of the Windows Client Group told PC Pro. “We’d very strongly encourage anyone on the beta to move to the Release Candidate.”
(from slashdot.org)
Facebook on your desktop
Facebook has released a desktop application built with Adobe AIR. That means that it is platform independent (Mac, PC, Linux).
You will have to have Adobe AIR in your computer and then install the Facebook application.
Facebook also announced their Open Stream API technology. With the API now the limit is the sky and you will start seeing interaction of Facebook with unimaginable applications. For instance, I use brightkite, a sort of improved twitter with location and photos integrated. Well, now when I update my location, or I add a note or a photo in with my brighkite application in my iphone, it is published in my Facebook wall.
Facebook Desktop for AIR isn’t the only application to take advantage of the new APIs, but it is the first. It also has the benefit of being labeled an “official” application since it’s put out by the company itself. Still, many people will prefer more full-featured clients like Seesmic Desktop, for example, which also includes support for Twitter. The Seesmic folks say they’re working on a new app that will offer full Facebook Open Stream API support and it should arrive shortly.
3G portable router
This is the first 3G portable router.
LevelOne 3G MobilSpot Portable Wireless HotSpot (WBR-3800) by CP Technologies.
Putt your 3G sim card into the router’s CardBus or USB interfaces and you’ve got an instant portable network for sharing to any 802.11b/g WiFi or Ethernet device. A 10/100Mbps WAN jack lets it double as your home router with auto-switching 3G backup for those of you with particularly troublesome DSL/Cable providers. The device measures 129 x 124 x 32mm (which isn’t that small) but costs a reasonable $149.
A Mobile App That Saves Lives, Literally
Written by Jolie O’Dell (www.readwriteweb.com)
DataDyne’s EpiSurveyor program, funded by the United Nations Foundation and the Vodafone Foundation, has been implementing mobile technology to track and contain disease in developing nations since 2007.
In a recent and potentially devastating polio outbreak in Kenya, EpiSurveyor’s new mobile platform was used to track virus carriers and immunize affected children. The campaign targeted around 2 million Kenyan children. Mobile tech will be used exclusively for new nationwide initiatives in children’s healthcare, and the World Health Organization has made EpiSurveyor the standard for data collection in sub-Saharan Africa. Screenshots and video included below.
“mHealth” is a recent term for medical and public health practice supported by mobile devices, such as mobile phones, PDAs, and other wireless devices, especially in areas where Internet access via computers is lacking. Related programs allow health officials to quickly gather and assess data regardless of location or access to more traditional resources, permitting immediate mobile response to health crises. Users can create forms, view records, and share data with others.
The EpiSurveyor program began using donated Palm Pilots to gather health data in Kenya and Zambia less than two years ago. Currently, DataDyne is migrating the program to Java-based platforms for mobile phones. Beta testing began in April 2009 with Nokia S40 series devices and will expand to support other devices in May.
There’s an interesting and rather basic tutorial video for field workers here which demonstrates some of the uses of EpiSurveyor’s data collection tools. Much more interesting is this video, an interview with an EpiSurveyor mobile developer in Kenya who had been working through the night to prepare a stack of phones for data collection in the field:
Interestingly, DataDyne’s Coded in Country (CIC) initiative puts at least 50% of the coding duties in the hands of local developers, helping to bolster both local tech communities and local economies.
Since most developing areas have far greater saturation of mobile devices than of actual computers with Internet connections, these devices are of the utmost importance for collecting, storing, retrieving, and transmitting critical and even life-saving information.
Last year, EpiSurveyor training took place in nine countries (Benin, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Rwanda, Senegal, and Uganda). This year, Botswana, Burundi, Chad, Eritrea, Gabon, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Togo will also have training programs. Overall, more than 800 health officers throughout Africa will have been trained on the EpiSurveyor program with potential to reach over hundreds of thousands of patients throughout the continent.
Datadyne founder, pediatrician and CDC epidemiologist Dr. Joel Selanikio, also recently won this year’s $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability for his contributions to public health and international development.
Photoshop? nope, aviary
Always wanted to have photoshop or software to edit photos?
Well, photoshop is very expensive, heavy and very difficult to use.
On previous posts I have mentioned several “cloud” software. I do like the “cloud” approach.
For those who are not familiar with the term, it would basically mean that you run programs on your internet browser (IE, Firefox or Safari), with no need to install it on your computer. The heavy work is done by the server. You need internet sure, but some of them can also work offline with Google Gears.
Anyway, after having mentioned Google Apps, Zoho (office-like), dimdim (for meetings) and many others, now I wanted to talk about Aviary. Aviary lets you edit images, create mind-blowing effects, design logos, find colors, collaborate, and more. All with just your web browser, and free.
Blocked port when webcasting with Stickam or Ustream
This is an open question. I am trying to broadcast with Stickam and Ustream from a location that apparently has the port 1935 closed. This plus probably a private ip.
I tried and skype video goes through, but skype is clever and can go over http if necessary.
Stickam and ustream use a flash application where you select the camera and uploads the stream to their servers.
Anyone has a workaround for streaming in such conditions?
Socks proxy? Torify? Please let me know how you would do it.
I could use a middle server where I could install whatever necessary (linux).
Genius G-Shot HD520 HD cam with 720p for less than $150
Are you looking for a low end camera that records pretty good video resolution? Here you have the winner: Genius HD520. It shots 5MB stills and 720p video.
It is a high definition video camera, can output on high-resolution flat-panel TVs using the HDMI cable ; it supports high efficient MPEG4/H.264 image compression format and reduces the file size so you can easily upload clips and photos to share with friends. Other features of the G-Shot HD520 camcorder: shoot photos up to 11MP, listen to music, read E-books, voice record, and it can be a portable media player to view clips or even still images.
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