We landed a freaking probe on a Comet this week. Yet the world is talking about Kim’s Ass.
Which lead’s me to state this.
Technology
Eat Meat, Save The Planet
We all have heard some environazi site cow farts as a major cause of methane gas and by extension global warming/climate change.
Well the answer is not to decrease the amount of livestock out there, but to increase it and rotate it. This speech on the TED network is awe inspiring and could be part of the biggest change in the greening of our planet (and by extension) create carbon sinks that keep the left happy, create lush green pastures and forests that make gun owning hunters happy, and reverse the desertification of the planet.
I am no friend to the environmental movement, but I am all for more beef cattle roaming the planet. Just watch this 20 minute video. You will be amazed at the change that can be made by livestock mimicking nature.
So what’s the answer? Eat meat and save the planet.
Play Games, Cure Cancer
I am wholeheartedly encouraged by this story.
Networking computers to increase processing power is nothing new. But three of the world’s biggest tech giants, Google, Facebook and Amazon are looking to develop a game for your smartphone that is both fun but let’s you help in the search for cancer curing drugs.
Scientists from a British cancer charity are teaming up with technology gurus from the likes of Amazon, Facebook and Google to design and develop a mobile game aimed at speeding the search for new cancer drugs.
The project, led by the charity Cancer Research UK, should mean that anyone with a smart phone and five minutes to spare will be able to investigate vital scientific data at the same time as playing a mobile game.
The game is slated to come out mid 2013.
Kudos to these companies. They are OfficiallyAwesome for doing this.
Blackberry 10 Rockin’ the Camera
Now THIS is the kind of stuff we expect from Blackberry. I am looking forward to their new products.
This is OfficiallyAwesome.
One Reason I Love Science and the Freedom to Choose What I Eat
I came across this photo via facebook.
It’s a picture of 2 year old hamburgers and fries from four different fast food places. The caption reads
“Our fast “food” display is now 2 years old. The word food is questionable, since the bread-like and meat-like substances have not molded or spoiled in any way. Bugs won’t even bother with it. Please think twice about giving this to your kids. You have a choice, but they don’t. We truly are what we eat.”
So let me get this straight. It never rots. It never moulds. It provides calories we can convert to energy. It tastes good to humans. And it is NOT appealing to the common fly. A creature that breeds on and eats manure.
I personally think science may have developed the perfect food!!
RIM’s Playbook Makes Like An Android Offering Best of Two Worlds
As many of you know, I occasionally stretch outside politics to give picks or pans. In this case I am bringing great news to Playbook owners (like me).
RIM has been demo-ing a new Android App Player on the Playbook at Blackberry World. This is an app that will let you play Android Apps on the Playbook. The app would need to be recompiled by the developers with a plug in RIM has developed for the Android development software and occasionally would need a tweek to run on the Playbook but it looks like an easy way for app developers to increase exposure to the Playbook owners.
What it also does is expand RIM’s Playbook application list. Right now the list is small compared to Apple’s App World, but the Google Android application list will surpass Apple’s in August, 2011.
This means that RIM will likely have access to more apps than Apple very soon. In any case, the access to apps for Playbook users is about to jump dramatically which is a good thing.
Hit the jump to view the video demo.
How OfficiallyAwesome is this news? Comments?
Community Service – Blackberry Tips To Make Your Experience Better
I seem to have become the go to tech support guy for all my friends who own Blackberries. So in an effort to make life easier, I have listed below a bunch of tips that should help make your experience a bit better.
Reboot
When at homescreen press ALT + CAP + DEL at same time and release
Switching between apps.
Hold Alt and press escape button to right of touchpad/scroll ball. Keep Alt pressed while you scroll through apps. Let go of alt and you will open switch the app.
Press alt plus escape and release to go back to original app.
On newer models you can simply hold down the Menu button (to left of touchpad) until it appears and then scroll to new app and click touchpad
Dial by Name
To dial alphanumeric phone numbers like “1-888-Rogers1″ hold alt while you dial the letter portion and press call. Note this works for dial by name when you call a company directory.
Ring/tone settings.
To toggle between the current setting and the last used setting simply press and hold # (pound sign)
(If you’re in Vibrate and you used Quiet last, then this will switch you to Quiet and/or back again)
Free Flashlight
To turn your bb into a flashlight, open your video camera, go to options and change video light setting to “on”. Then whenever you open your video camera your led light will turn on giving you light. If you want it one click away you can program one of your side convenience buttons to open your video camera. if your BB does not have a video camera you can upgrade your OS and desktop manager to get the latest version which has the video camera. (may not be possible on older blackberrys with less memory or those blackberries without a camera flash)
Tech Info
Alt + Cap + H opens an info screen with any info a bb support or IT support guy would need from you.
Special Characters
To type accented or special characters simply Hold the letter key and scroll with your track pad.
Caps Lock
Press ALT + right CAP to activate caps lock (you’ll see an “aA” icon in the top right of the screen). Press it again to release caps lock.
NUM Lock
Press ALT + left CAP to activate NUM lock (you’ll see a “123” icon in the top right). Press again to release.
To easily manage multiple email signatures.
1. Delete your existing auto signature or change the option setting to No. (Open email. Click Menu -> Options -> Email Settings -> Use Auto Signature and then update your setting.)
2. Make an autotext (Options -> AutoText) entry where:
When you type: zz (or any irregular, non-standard 2 letter combo like zx) Replace it with:
Your Name
Your Company
Your phone, extension, etc.
You can have a “professional” signature and a “casual” sign off. Or many signatures. Now just enter those 2 extra letters at the end of a message and your signature will appear there.
Email Tips
Press T – to get to the top of an email, inbox, web page or document (ER key on a BlackBerry® Pearl™)
Press B – to get to the bottom of an email, inbox, web page or document (CV key on a Pearl)
Press SPACE – to move down one screen at a time (M key on a Pearl)
Press ALT + SPACE – to move up one screen at a time (UI key on a Pearl)
Press N – to move to next email item (JK key on a Pearl)
Press P – to move to the previous email item (DF key on a Pearl)
Press U – to move to the most recent unread email [from within email]
Press SPACE twice to insert a period when typing.
Hold a letter to capitalize it (without using the CAP key)
For you ultimate geeks
The BlackBerry captures and saves an ongoing event log file. If you’re experiencing slower performance on your BB and want to clear the Log, or you’re a developer who needs to see what’s happening at a deeper level…
Press ALT + LGLG (hold the ALT key and type the letters LGLG) The log file screen will appear. Press Menu to see options like “Clear Log” or “Copy Day’s Contents”.
Note: you must be in the home screen to get the log file!
If you prefer more than the simplified wireless coverage “bars”, you can switch to an exact decibel meter view.
Press ALT + NMLL (type the letters NMLL) This toggles between wireless signal as “bars” and showing the negative number decibel value (very techie!) Note: you must be in the home screen to toggle coverage meter.
If you’re a web developer, and you visit a site while on your BlackBerry, you can still view source code. While you’re on the browser page, Press ALT + RBVS (type the letters RBVS).
Credit for many for many of these needs to be given to http://www.asendu.com/node/13
When Ideology Is Imposed On The Private Sector We Get Garbage
Charles Krauthammer, one of the smartest (and best dressed) men in America chimes in on the Chevy Volt.
“The only people who are going to buy it are going to be very rich people who are going to park it outside their townhouse for ostentatious show of how virtuous they are while they drive around in their Cadillac Escalade”
Let’s compare:
Chevy Volt – 64km on a single charge from a government owned big three car maker in business since 1908 which is comparable to the….
Zenn Motor Company LSV – which also gets 64km on a single charge from a small independent Canadian company that just went public in 2006.
Stepping up we have the Nissan Leaf which can go 160km on a charge.
But the big boy on the block is still high tech startup Tesla Motors. The Tesla Roadster is a Lotus-like all electric sports car with high speed , hot acceleration and about 400km per charge but it costs quite a bit. So Tesla is releasing their Model S (sedan) in 2012 with similar performance at a price point around $50,000.
I-Phone 4GS Owners OfficiallyScrewed
All I can say is that if you already paid for this dud, you are OfficiallyScrewed. Click the video to see what I am talking about.
Of course, this ONLY happens when you are HOLDING the phone. That’s good news for people who don’t like to touch their I-phone with it’s amazing TOUCHscreen.
Maybe they should have called it the I-Flop.
Comparing Bieber Blocker to Hitler is Simply OfficiallyScrewed
I fully agree that free speech means Justin Bieber can sing where he wants, have whomever he wants market him, show up on any channel willing to air him and any computer screen that doesn’t break from the screaling teens who sit and drool over this young man.
However, I also think if someone is ingenious enough to figure out how to block something he/she does not want to see, then good on them. This is exactly what Greg Leuch has done. His Bieber blocker dubbed Shaved Bieber may be a Godsend to many, but it is also now sparking death threats to the young programmer.
But after Leuch posted the application to a free technology website, word started to get around, and the backlash began. He started getting hate mail from around the world, sent by angry fans of the teen idol from Stratford, Ont.
“I hate you because you invented Shaved Bieber. Justin Bieber is the best,” one wrote.
Another even threatened Leuch’s life: “I know many things about you and I know where you live. Just be aware I might appear behind you and shoot you with a gun.”
Another compared him to Hitler: “What you’re doing is going back to World War II all over again. Hitler wanted to erase Jews from society, you want to erase justin Drew Bieber.”
Leuch is taking it all in stride, and said he is more bemused than worried. He offered a light-hearted response to the backlash:
“Oops,” he said. “Umm, I mean I really did not expect all this fan backlash, so oops.”
Comparing the Bieberblocker to Hitler might be a little OfficiallyScrewed.
Now to find out if I can find a similar program to block Apple I-product commercials!!!