Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Holophonic Sound - Audio So Real It's Scary

You've heard the Diggnation demo of surround sound through regular headphones. Just wait until you hear true three-dimensional sound that even lets you hear above and below you!

read more | digg story

Portable Open Office 2.0.1 released

Here is a portable version of Open Office for use with a USB Drive. Pretty cool since it allows you to have both the file and the software to open the file with you at all times.

read more | digg story

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Elmo Asks 'Who Wants to Die?'

Reprogrammed Elmo books sold to unsuspecting parents to teach kids to use the potty

read more | digg story

First 15 minutes of 9/11 attacks on the web

Riveting descriptions of the first 15 minutes of live TV/radio coverage of the attacks: "If Gumbel seemed to somehow miss the crash of the second plane, he was the only anchor who thought he saw non-existent third and fourth jets approach the burning towers at 9:41. "Hold it, hold it!" said a near-panicky Gumbel to his guest...

read more | digg story

A huge virus threat for every Windows PC ever made

Experts believe that this could be the biggest vulnerability that has ever surfaced for Windows PCs. Other than the users themselves.

read more | digg story

RIAA Try New Scare Tactics

Visitors to the site are being shown their own IP address and told that it was "LOGGED" (in all capital letters) -- as if there's something illegal about visiting the website. Rather than worry people, this is mostly just causing people to laugh at the RIAA.

read more | digg story

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Supercooled Water: watch as bottled water turns into ice in seconds

This article details a practical experience with liquid water cooled below its freezing point. When disturbed, the water turns into ice within a matter of seconds. It's called supercooling, and occurs when molecules in the pure water cannot fuse together.

read more | digg story

The Truth Behind Bananas

After reading this, you'll never look at a banana in the same way again.

read more | digg story

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Best Open Source Encoder (Xvid, Divx, H264, MPEG-2) - StaxRip

With StaxRip you can easily convert your DVD's, DVB or DV captures or almost any other source format. As a open source application StaxRip is completely free.

read more | digg story

Xbox 360 costs $715 to make

Microsoft is losing upwards of $300 per console sold. "It costs Microsoft approximately $715 to make, the manufacturing costs are still too high, another reason why they�re producing relatively small quantities.'�

read more | digg story

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Google Zeitgeist '05

Google just released their Zeitgeist 2005 with lots of fun and interesting tidbits

read more | digg story

How much do the richest people in the world donate to charity?

Ever wonder how generous Bill Gates and Warren Buffett really are? Well it may surprise you to find out just exactly how much Bill Gates donates each year. More than you think...

read more | digg story

Dell 3007WFP 30-inch Widescreen Digital Flat-Panel Monitor

Isn't she just gorgeous to look at? Dell will be introducing their new 30-inch flat-panel display during CES...

read more | digg story

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Stalin Wanted Half-Man, Half-Ape Super-Warrior

Stalin wanted Planet of the Apes-like troops, insensitive to pain and hardship.

read more | digg story

The truth about SuprNova.org shutdown.

"Today, on the exact day, when SuprNova.org went offline, I decided that it is time for everybody to know the truth and that it is time for me to stop pretending like nothing ever happened."

read more | digg story

One Billion Internet Users

"Some time in 2005, we quietly passed a dramatic milestone in Internet history: the one-billionth user went online. Statistically, we're likely talking about a 24-year-old woman in Shanghai."

read more | digg story

use Google as a free proxy

at work? blocked site? proxy blocked also?
Fear not, since google is almost never blocked!
This artice shows you how to use Google itself as a real-time (as in: not via Accelerator or Cache) web proxy for shady and interesting websites! Don't Be Evil? yeah Right!

read more | digg story

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked

Henry Jenkins, a professor at MIT and the director of comparative studies there, has written an essay that debunks eight popular myths about videogames. These include "Girls don't play videogames," "videogames make kids violent," and "videogames aren't a meaningful form of expression."

read more | digg story

New Da Vinci Code Trailer

Columbia Pictures has brought online the first full-length trailer for The Da Vinci Code, from director Ron Howard and writer Akiva Goldsman, who last teamed-up on Oscar-winner A Beautiful Mind. You can watch the trailer at Apple in High Definition QuickTime and regular QuickTime formats!

read more | digg story

New Da Vinci Code Trailer

Columbia Pictures has brought online the first full-length trailer for The Da Vinci Code, from director Ron Howard and writer Akiva Goldsman, who last teamed-up on Oscar-winner A Beautiful Mind. You can watch the trailer at Apple in High Definition QuickTime and regular QuickTime formats!

read more | digg story

File-sharing Is Good For Music Industry -Study

"The record industry has long considered online file-sharing a serious threat to its livelihood. But a new study released Tuesday suggests that consumer-to-consumer music recommendations a growing feature of online music stores and Web sites will benefit the industry, artists and fans alike."

read more | digg story

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Learn about all the Japanese Emoticons

See how they differ from English smileys, and the explanations on the most popular ones.

read more | digg story

XBox 360 only $150 in Japan! Prices slashed after only 4 days!

Looks like the Japanese are waiting for the PS3 and the Revolution.

read more | digg story

Xbox 360 not designed to play games in vertical position

Those aren't my words, but those of a customer service representative. When someones Xbox 360 stopped playing games, he was told to orient the console horizontally, which fixed the problems. Microsoft wont fix his Xbox 360, because apparently it was never designed to play games vertically! Crazy stuff.

read more | digg story

Car Buried in 1957 to Be Unearthed in '07

Ahh... the 50's... It should be interesting to see all the items buried in the time capsule. They even buried a supply of gasoline just incase internal combustion engines became obsolete!

read more | digg story

Essential Free Wireless Hacking Tools

Anyone interested in wireless security and exploiting vulnerabilities will need a good set of base tools with which to work. Fortunately, there are an abundance of free tools available on the Internet. Brought to you by Dan Hoffman, CISSP, CWNA and regular columnist for the new online magazine, The Ethical Hacker Network.

read more | digg story

Students suspended after looking at teachers pornographic screensaver

The year seven students were suspended from attending the The St Francis of Assisi Humpty Doo school after typing in a password that brought up a screen saver of a naked woman in a pornographic pose.

read more | digg story

XBOX 360 file system decoded

The anti-owner technology in Microsoft's Xbox 360 has been compromised. A technology group called Pi has decoded the filesystem, which is an important step towards stripping out all of Microsoft's anti-customer technologies and turning the Xbox 360 into a general computing platform.

read more | digg story

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Hubble's best shots.

Ever wondered how mindbogglingly the Universe is? You can get a good feel of it looking at these photos.

read more | digg story

40,000 Xbox 360s Sold on eBay!

According to eBay president and CEO Meg Whitman, a staggering 40,000 Xbox 360 consoles have been sold on eBay. So, if each 360 was sold for $800 (which is still a conservative estimate), that's... $32,000,000+ on eBay. Microsoft alone could make tons of money simply 'reselling' their own product.

read more | digg story

New Soft Helmet Turns Hard in Crash

A shear thickening material, it is flexible when moved slowly, but when it is compresssed by an impact, its molecules lock together. The Ribcap is a combination soft, flexible beanie and tough helmet.

read more | digg story

Angry BellSouth Withdrew City Donation because of free Wifi

From Boing Boing: "Hours after New Orleans officials announced Tuesday that they would deploy a city-owned, wireless Internet network in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, regional phone giant BellSouth Corp. withdrew an offer to donate one of its damaged buildings that would have housed new police headquarters, city officials said yesterday."

read more | digg story

CNN "Pipeline" Live Feeds Now Online

Did you cancel your cable to rely exclusively on Bittorrent? Now you can get CNN's live feeds via the web, too.
This is their big entree into live net distribution. They will reportedly offer four live feeds of various news events, with one weekday feed featuring a live news anchor exclusively on the web.

read more | digg story

Coloring Black and White Photos

This is horrendously cool. You draw a bit of color on objects, and it colors them for you.

NEAT.

read more | digg story

Monday, December 05, 2005

A Man With Only a 7 Second Memory

"It's like being dead . . . one long night with no thoughts, no dreams. There's no difference between day and night, I haven't been conscious in 20 years."

read more | digg story

A Man With Only a 7 Second Memory

"It's like being dead . . . one long night with no thoughts, no dreams. There�s no difference between day and night, I haven�t been conscious in 20 years."

read more | digg story

Friday, December 02, 2005

GMail anti-virus coming very very soon....

Google is very close to introducing anti-virus to it's GMail service.

read more | digg story

RIAA Sues Woman Who Has No Computer For Sharing Music

This is getting out of hand.

read more | digg story

Xbox vs. Xbox 360: Do You Really Need HD?

Just like the title says, do you really need HD, yet? Great comparison showing the difference between games that are on the Xbox, and Xbox360, just put your cursor over the image to see the difference.

read more | digg story

Russian squirrel pack 'kills dog'

"Squirrels have bitten to death a stray dog which was barking at them in a Russian park, local media report."

read more | digg story

WoW! "Yahoo China" makes downloading pirated music so easy!

There has been plenty of diggs about the chinese search engine baidu.com and how to download free music on it. Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com.cn/) not only duped this site. But also made it easy to download free pirated music.

read more | digg story

Mr. T from your dashboard: 'Turn left, fool'

LOL. Companies are offering some surprising voices for you car's navigation system. Make room for Mr. T.

read more | digg story

Ubuntu / Windows Dual Boot Video Tutorial

Installing a dual-boot system using Windows XP and Ubuntu . The video details the entire process, from partitioning the harddrive to walking through the install procedure.

read more | digg story

Scratches no match for Nissan's new car paint

Nissan Motor said Friday it had created a paint that repairs scratches on its own, restoring a car's surface to normal within a week.

read more | digg story

Apple's cheap laptop plans released.

Apple is preparing to launch a range of budget Intel laptops next month, designed to take on cheaper rivals such as those produced by Dell and HP.

read more | digg story

Top fifteen richest fictional people according to Forbes

Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne made the list. Guess who's number one...

read more | digg story

Monday, November 28, 2005

The best Xbox360 Review

HardOCP gives their customary excellent run-down review of the Xbox 360.The best I have seen.

read more | digg story

eBay stands for "Echo Bay, California"

An old article which explains that eBay would have originally been echobay.com, had the domain not already been taken.

read more | digg story

Symantec Officially Discontinues SyGate Products

Three months after Symantec bought SyGate Technologies, they have announced that they are discontinuing all SyGate products and support as of November 30, 2005.

There goes one of the great, free software firewalls for Windows :(

read more | digg story

Mininova.org TV Torrents organized for you!

Basically a frontend for mininova.org. It organizes all the TV show torrents into different series with links to that episode database listings, newest show and much more. Check it out!

read more | digg story

Windows Vista OS may ship earlier then expected

With speculation of a ship date for Windows Vista ranging in the second part of 2006, word has surprisingly surfaced that it can be expected much earlier. BusinessWeek has received a copy of the internal blog of Chris Jones, who is a top Windows executive. The blog states that the code for Windows Vista will be completed by August 31.

read more | digg story

Friday, November 25, 2005

Today's Time Waster

Get as many chain reactions as you can....addicting!!!

read more | digg story

Don't update your version of Kazaa

A court has ordered Sharman to release a new version of Kazaa by 5 December that includes a non-optional keyword filter. Justice Wilcox also ordered in a hearing yesterday that dialogue boxes appear on the Kazaa Web site "to place maximum pressure on KMD users to obtain the updated release".

read more | digg story

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

EFF Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Sony BMG

"The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), along with two leading national class action law firms, today filed a lawsuit against Sony BMG, demanding that the company repair the damage done by the First4Internet XCP and SunnComm MediaMax software it included on over 24 million music CDs." --- Sic 'em EFF!!!

read more | digg story

Monday, November 21, 2005

The Search Engine Experiment: Who Really Has The Best Results?

A public experiment discovering which of the top three search engines (Google, Yahoo, or MSN) really offers the best results. By taking the test you also find out which engine you personally prefer (and it's a blind test, so prejudice won't effect the outcome).

read more | digg story

Hologram from Maxell with 1.6 TB storage space & 120 MBPs transfer speed

bringing a revolutionary technology to market - holographic media. With storage capacities achieving 1.6 TeraBytes per disk and data rates as high as 120 MBPs, holographic technology is a true breakthrough in optical media.

read more | digg story

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Intellectually Stimulating Game ( How Fast Can You Think? )

See if you can beat my high score of 674. To be fair to yourself try it just once and see how fast you can think. Post your high score in the comments for everyone to ogle at. Cheers!

read more | digg story

Reset Windows XP password

Uses install disc and a hole in the installation screen.



1. Place your Windows XP CD in your cd-rom and start your computer (it’s assumed here that your XP CD is bootable – as it should be - and that you have your bios set to boot from CD)

2. Keep your eye on the screen messages for booting to your cd Typically, it will be “Press any key to boot from cd”

3. Once you get in, the first screen will indicate that Setup is inspecting your system and loading files.

4. When you get to the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER to Setup Windows now

5. The Licensing Agreement comes next - Press F8 to accept it.

6. The next screen is the Setup screen which gives you the option to do a Repair.

It should read something like “If one of the following Windows XP installations is damaged, Setup can try to repair it”

Use the up and down arrow keys to select your XP installation (if you only have one, it should already be selected) and press R to begin the Repair process.

7. Let the Repair run. Setup will now check your disks and then start copying files which can take several minutes.

8. Shortly after the Copying Files stage, you will be required to reboot. (this will happen automatically – you will see a progress bar stating “Your computer will reboot in 15 seconds”

9. During the reboot, do not make the mistake of “pressing any key” to boot from the CD again! Setup will resume automatically with the standard billboard screens and you will notice Installing Windows is highlighted.

10. Keep your eye on the lower left hand side of the screen and when you see the Installing Devices progress bar, press SHIFT + F10. This is the security hole! A command console will now open up giving you the potential for wide access to your system.

11. At the prompt, type NUSRMGR.CPL and press Enter. Voila! You have just gained graphical access to your User Accounts in the Control Panel.

12. Now simply pick the account you need to change and remove or change your password as you prefer. If you want to log on without having to enter your new password, you can type control userpasswords2 at the prompt and choose to log on without being asked for password. After you’ve made your changes close the windows, exit the command box and continue on with the Repair (have your Product key handy).

13. Once the Repair is done, you will be able to log on with your new password (or without a password if you chose not to use one or if you chose not to be asked for a password). Your programs and personalized settings should remain intact.


read more | digg story

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Is Gravity Leaking From Our Universe?

A mysterious force is ripping through physics and astronomy departments these days. It has splintered long-cherished theories and has caused otherwise rational scientists to latch onto a weird and ugly notion.

read more | digg story

Marines Get Brutal New Weapon

The Marines have begun using a weapon that is easily capable of turning buildings�and humans�into bits of rubble. This is called the SHAW-NE (shoulder mounted assault weapon � novel explosion) and it uses a thermobaric mixture that produces a shockwave in the air easily crushing walls and sending entire buildings collapsing to the ground.

read more | digg story

iPod nano now does video too !!!!

iPod hack allows you to watch video on the Nano and iPod photo.

read more | digg story

WRT54G Explore its true potential

Everyone and there mothers have a Linksys WRT54G. This is the best write up I have found on the different types of firmware upgrades that are out there for this router. Thank you LINUX for making this all possible.

read more | digg story

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Meditation can boost your gray matter

Meditation alters brain patterns in ways that are likely permanent, scientists have known. But a new study shows key parts of the brain actually get thicker through the practice.

read more | digg story

Google Maps Beer Hunter

"BeerHunter.ca is a Google Map that shows Beer stores - as well as their open and close times closed stores are shown with 50% transparent icons" "(BeerHunter.ca currently only lists outlets in Toronto)"

read more | digg story

Monday, November 14, 2005

Tutorial: How to re-calibrate your Laptop Battery!

I�ve noticed that my battery life sucked! After 15 minutes my (less than a half year old) laptop computer kept automatically shutting off because it claimed the battery was dead� but it wasn�t.

read more | digg story

EvilLyrics - Awesomest Lyrics Program

Displays lyrics for the current song in Winamp, iTunes, Foobar, QCD, WMP etc. Special Karoke Mode that highlights the current line being sung. I love the program--been using it for years.

read more | digg story

Google Analytics is live now

Google is offering Urchin website analysis tool for free now.

read more | digg story

Man's body cured itself of HIV AIDS

Doctors are planning further tests on a British man whose body has reportedly cured itself of HIV....there is real hope for a cure now...

read more | digg story

Get Free Anthlon XP Bezels, Banners, and Posters from AMD

Get free schwag from AMD, just enter your info and item numbers. Limit is six items per address.

read more | digg story

Friday, November 11, 2005

Phases of drawing a human

Flash recording of an artist drawing a fully clothed person, starting with the skeleton.

read more | digg story

'Gravity tractor' to deflect Earth-bound asteroids

NASA has unveiled a new plan to save earth from Ben Afleck style armageddon. Instead of trying to blow the big rock up with nukes just park a large spacecraft close by and let gravity do the work. This actually sounds like a reasonable idea.

read more | digg story

BusinessWeek: How digg Uncovers the News

Kevin Rose & Jay Adelson were recently interviewed by BusinessWeek about the growth and history of digg. A must read!

read more | digg story

Watching all six Star Wars movies simultaneously

"So all six Star Wars movies are out on DVD now, and I said to myself: I have nothing better to do, and there are so many parallels between these movies as it is, it'd be fun to see how many interesting things line up with each other if I watch all six movies simultaneously."

read more | digg story

"Sony, I download your music"

"And the funny thing is you still wonder why. Here�s the lowdown:"

read more | digg story

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Top 10 Tips for Great Pictures

Do you wish you were a better photographer? All it takes is a little know-how and experience. Keep reading for some important picture-taking tips. Then grab your camera and start shooting your way to great pictures.

read more | digg story

Indian outsourcing boom may end abruptly

Indian outsourcing boom may end abruptly as stagflation gets hold and sentiment in US economy goes south. If America and Western Europe go into a deep recession, Indian outsourcing sector will collapse too. The trends are beginning to point towards this.

read more | digg story

Top 5 HDTV mistakes to avoid

Looking to make an HDTV purchase? These simple, but profound, misunderstandings and mistakes should be avoided.

read more | digg story

New Linksys Wireless-G IP phone!!

"A new Linksys Wireless-G IP phone WIP300 has appeared to the public on the FCC pages. It will allow you to make phone calls using your braodband connection whether your at home, in the office or a public hotspot."

read more | digg story

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

ChrisAJ.com is now Live!!

You heard it here first folks. My newest portal is now live. It's an integration of everything to do with me, Chris Al-Joundi.

http://www.chrisaj.com

Torrent Finder

Best torrent search site, search top torrent sites from one page
http://ts.kurtubba.com
The Easy Way to Find Torrents

read more | digg story

Apple Preparing Full Assault on Microsoft - Virtual Machine War?

An interesting news item on the Net aligned with a previously published statement about Apple's ultimate intentions behind the Intel switch. A reliable source had told Architosh prior to the highly anticipated Apple WWDC event earlier that Steve Jobs would make an announcement that would be ultimately about expanding Macintosh market share.

read more | digg story

Monday, November 07, 2005

Digg's Downtime Noticed by CNet

Digg, a rising online technology news community that has been called a rival to Slashdot, went offline for about five hours on Friday. There was no attack, instead the servers succumbed to the site's success, according to Digg founder Kevin Rose. "For any site that has that viral growth, it is a challenge to stay ahead of the growth".

read more | digg story

Eight-year-old physics genius enters university

"Song Yoo-geun, 8, wants to build flying cars, defying Newton's law of gravity, and the physics genius which has made him Korea's youngest university student may very well drive him to that dream."

read more | digg story

MacIntel PowerBooks coming in April or May

A few months ago, Steve Jobs announced that Apple�s Intel-based Macs would be coming in June 2006. AppleInsider is now reporting that they will hit stores even sooner.

read more | digg story

Family Guy Creator, Seth MacFarlane's 1995 Student Film

This is Seth MacFarlane's student film from 1995, entitled "Life of Larry". The short is full of flashbacks, and scenes which would eventually end up in episodes of "Family Guy". It also allowed for MacFarlane's first break into the industry. The short won a student film award from Hanna-Barbera who eventually hired MacFarlane.

read more | digg story

Ghostbusters 3

Harold Ramis reveals Dan Aykroyd has written a new script, called Ghostbusters in Hell, and Ramis is keen to get the project started.

He tells InFocus magazine he wants ben Stiller to join Aykroyd and Rick Moranis in the sequel.

read more | digg story

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Office Live screenshots leak!

Tons of screenshots of a bunch of new Live products, including Office, Local, Mobile, Call, Mojo, and more.

read more | digg story

internet explorer tab within firefox

this is a new firefox extension.

to use it, just right click a link and choose "open this link in ie tab" you've now opened internet explorer in a tab of firefox!

this is great for the occasional times when a page doesn't work correctly in firefox, downloading windows updates, or designing a web page- since you can easily see how your webpage displays in IE with just one click and then switch back to Firefox.

read more | digg story

PSP can now play all video types!

PSP Advance will be available on Nov 9th and works with all firmware versions of the PSP. The software lets you to watch MPG1, MPG2, MPG4, DivX, Xvid, and MOV files on PSP. You can transfer any file from the PC to the PSP via the 802.11b wifi. Looks like the PSP is a viable portable video option now! Can't wait to use my divx collection on the go!

read more | digg story

Study: one in five teens have own blogs

In other news, four in five teens have a life.

read more | digg story

Another Pic from the D50


DSC_0159
Originally uploaded by CALJ.
Once again, witness the power and beauty of the Nikon D50 digital SLR. This camera is just awesome. Check out the level of detail from this photo when you zoom in.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Bringing Aperture into focus

a pro photographers in-depth look at Apple's Aperature.

read more | digg story

Nikon D50


DSC_0016
Originally uploaded by CALJ.
So this past weekend, I went ahead and bought myself a Nikon D50 digital SLR. This is an absolutely amazing camera, as you can tell by this picture I took with it of my youngest cousin.

USA: Cars to get USB ports soon - CD players to become obsolete?

"By linking a USB port to a car's entertainment system the car maker can offer customers audio and video options unavailable in most other models. That means a customer can play music loaded onto a memory stick in the car. The stereo system recognises the USB port as if it was the car's CD changer..."

read more | digg story

Google is Hiring Like Crazy

Google added ~800 employees last quarter and is continuing to add even more. Most job opportunities are in engineering, operations & IT. Google likes "learners" and to hire people that are "too good for the current job" and "about right for the job that is the next step".

read more | digg story

Monday, October 31, 2005

How Advanced Can a Civilization Become?

An interview done last year with a theoretical physicist in which he talks about how advanced civilizations can become. The answers are surprisingly detailed for something so theoretical :)

read more | digg story

I want to ...

A page of utilities that help you do stuff you want to!

read more | digg story

Payments with cell phones rocking Japan

No need for more plastic cards, Japanese cell phones with smart card chips handle your payments at major retail stores. Now, losing your phones have never been so critical.

read more | digg story

The World's Most Powerful Subwoofer

This fan-like subwoofer is able to achieve frequencies of 1Hz. By comparison, most woofers go as low as 20Hz. For wealthy audiophiles only, though... Price tag: $13,000.

read more | digg story

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Check this site out - Jon, this one's for you

Check this site out!
Jon, this link is for you!
Go to www.digg.com for all the latest news stories. It’s now become my #1 most visited website for news.