My Digg
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Find Downloadable Music For Free
Friday, October 12, 2007
The site Audio Raider uses Google search features to find folders of music around the internet. Naturally, “it’s not to be used for copyrighted content”.
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Under no circumstances is this site to be used to download copyrighted content. All results are pulled directly from Google. None of the files in the results are hosted on this server. |
Out of the searches I did, my success rate was rather high. I was unable to find music of some of the local bands I am fan of, but thats somewhat expected. Overall its a great tool.
Filed in Tech | Comments (0) | PermalinkBuild Your Own GPS Navigation System For $40
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Using the OnStar system’s GPS module out of your pre-2004 vehicle, which come 2008 will no longer be in service, you can build a USB device for your laptop. Plug the data into Google Maps and see where you are and get directions to where you’re going.
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It’s not really OnStar’s fault that so many subscribers will soon be hitting the little blue button in vain. Starting in 2008, cellphone providers will stop supporting the old analog cellphone system, on which OnStar has long relied to provide near-ubiquitous coverage for its roadside-assistance service. |
Basically what happens is you remove the GPS module from the car connect it to your laptop, after a few additions, which can use the data from the device by putting it into a mapping program. I definitely think I’m going to try this sometime.
External Links:
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how20/ddb6bb1fd9ca4110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html
Photo by: AFO
Filed in Tech | Comments (0) | PermalinkFlipcup Tournament
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
On Sept. 2nd, we held a Flipcup tournament at our house and set up a few camera’s. Here is the end result.
Thanks to everyone who was involved with the event and all the players who put their livers at risk. The night didn’t go without mishaps however. We had a noise complaint before 10:30, which I didn’t think was even possible, so I had a conversation with a police officer for a few minutes. Later in the night a police check stop appeared at the end of our road, which I am pretty sure was caused by us. Shortly after, our landlord stopped by to warn us of the police just down the street. Not quite what I was expecting, but I can’t complain. At some point during the night someone raided our fridge for all the beer it contained. Lastly, one of our guests took out a few light bulbs while playing the Wii. Besides the mishaps, the night was an overall success I’d say. Next time we put on something like this however, it won’t be in our house.
Filed in Videos, Life | Comments (1) | PermalinkGrain Truck Fire
Monday, August 27, 2007
Earlier today our grain truck took a turn for the worst when the dash began to smoke. It is currently unknown what started the fire, but the truck was the only loss. Here are a few pictures of the event.
The Blanshard Fire Dept. responded to the call along with a few neighbours who were passing by.
There is little left of the cab; the box is still in decent condition.
More pictures can be found on my Flickr page:
http://flickr.com/photos/wesgill/
Can owning a WiFi Skype phone land you in jail?
Thursday, August 23, 2007
There have been arrests made around the world of people using someone else’s unsecured wifi. This itself is a gray area, but what about people using wifi cellphones?
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I was in an unfamiliar place and someone rang my review Skype phone and I answered the call as if I had a cell phone. But wait a minute, how did I manage to get a connection? After some further investigation I determined that the phone was automatically configured to connect any “open” Wi-Fi network it can find. |
It all falls back to the owner of the access point. If you’re not going to protect it, its your fault if, for example, illegal activities are performed on your connection. The insurance companies treat you the same way with car theft. If you leave your keys in it and your vehicle is stolen, generally they won’t cover you. Until there are specific rules or laws made on the subject of open wifi, just hope you aren’t in the wrong place at the wrong time.
External Link:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=699
Photo by: mr_quan_nguyen
Filed in Tech | Comments (0) | PermalinkPlug and Play PS2 Memory Card ModChip
Monday, August 20, 2007
Within the next two weeks a special memory card known as Vast will be release to the modchip market. Essentially, you plug it in and it gives you all the functions of a soldered chip, without the voided warranties and risk of destroying your machine.
| The product essentially exploits a flaw in the PS2 memory card system and uses MagicGate technology which means that the totally innovative design will be 100% secure. When inserted, the following operating system will boot giving any PS2/Two access to a wealth of features. |
For me, this means I can play custom Guitar Hero songs on any PS2, anywhere. Dragonforce anyone?
External Link:
http://www.maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=19915
Photo by: Mickal
Filed in Tech | Comments (0) | Permalink“Walking does more than driving to cause global warming”
Sunday, August 5, 2007
According to a environmentalists calculations, the carbon emitted from the production of food that would provide you the energy to walk to the shops is greater than that emitted from the car that you would have driven that same distance.
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The sums were done by Chris Goodall, campaigning author of How to Live a Low-Carbon Life, based on the greenhouse gases created by intensive beef production. “Driving a typical UK car for 3 miles [4.8km] adds about 0.9 kg [2lb] of CO2 to the atmosphere,” he said, a calculation based on the Government’s official fuel emission figures. “If you walked instead, it would use about 180 calories. You’d need about 100g of beef to replace those calories, resulting in 3.6kg of emissions, or four times as much as driving. |
Now those calculations may be true, but as pointed out by a Digg commenter, this would mean if you were to drive, you wouldn’t have eaten those calories. Personally, when I’m going to walk somewhere I don’t stop to grab a bite before I leave to “fuel up”.
The article does show that there are a lot of contributers to global warming that you perhaps wouldn’t have thought of before, such as paper bags being less efficient than plastic, but there isn’t one specific thing that can be changed to stop carbon emissions. There is always going to be some source of gases somewhere. The only true way to massively cut back is to go back to the stone age.
External Link:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2195538.ece
Photo by: rs3art
Vista Suicide By Pressing Two Keys
Saturday, July 14, 2007
It has recently been found that you can overwhelm, freeze, then crash Windows Vista by just holding down two keys.
“Either way, you too can watch Windows Vista die in front of your eyes. To make matters worse, the key combination is one of the most utilized keyboard shortcuts in Windows. Pressing the Windows key together with “E” will start Computer in Windows Vista. Keeping the two keys pressed will open a large volume of Computer windows. Want to crush Windows Vista? Nothing could be simpler. Just keep the two keys pressed for more than 20 - 30 seconds.”
I did try it on my laptop just for the hell of it and sure enough, after a mere 5 seconds of holding, I had a little over 30 windows open. I expect that Microsoft will have this patched up in the near future. The person coding Vista that day must have had a hard morning after a late night.
External Link:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Perform-a-Windows-Vista-Suicide-Pressing-Just-2-Keys-59886.shtml
Cellphone Default Unlock and Security Codes
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
I came across this PDF file used for testing mobile phone signal strength in the field.
To do this, it covers how to access the programming menu which is used by your carrier to connect your phone to their service. To get to this menu, it gives you the default security/unlock code to most phones where needed. It has been my experience that both Verizon and Rogers do not change their codes from the defaults. Thanks to this I am using a Verison branded Motorola E815 with my MTS carrier. There are usually two codes, one 6 digit and one 4 digit. The 4 digit number is often the last four digits of your own number. For example the code for 555-7104 would be 7104. So if your interested in a new phone and plan to buy one from a friend or on eBay, stick to those branded phones and you should have little trouble switching it to your new carrier.
The PDF can be found at this link:
http://www.tessco.com/yts/customerservice/techsupport/datasheets/pdf/FieldTestModes.pdf
RedBull Winch Hunt: Winnipeg
Monday, July 2, 2007
On June 24th, I was involved with filming a RedBull sponsered wakeboarding demo in and around Winnipeg, MB. The activity started at The Forks where everyone met up before having a bite. Below is a picture of the riders transportation as well as the RedBull minis which provided cold drinks throughout the day.
Our first location was the fountain in the park in front of the Legislative building. Despite “No Swimming” signs we never received any trouble throughout our time there.
Other locations throughout the day included Kildonan park, St. Vital park and Asper’s boat house.
Thanks to A.J. Potrebka for the photos throughout the day. The complete set of photos can be found here.
http://flickr.com/photos/deathcabforaj/sets/72157600607687386/
When I get a hold of the completed video I’ll be sure to post it.
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