Posts filed under 'Uncategorized'
The Mouse is 40 years Old Today
On December 9, 1968, before a packed Brooks Hall auditorium in San Francisco, Douglas Engelbart, the director of Stanford Research Institute’s Augmentation Research Center, took the stage and changed computing forever.
During a 100-minute presentation, Engelbart demonstrated to 1,000 people the work that he and SRI’s chief engineer, Bill English, had been doing, work that is still recognizable in the way that everyone uses computers today.
It’s possible, some have said, that there never had been, nor never would be, another presentation that unveiled as many new paradigm-shifting technologies. They included the world’s first publicly seen mouse, as well as the introduction of hyperlinks and navigable windows. The presentation drew a standing ovation.
And it moved John Markoff, reporter at The New York Times and author of What the Dormouse Said: How the 60s Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry, to write: “There were two things that particularly dazzled the audience on that rainy Monday morning.”
First, computing had made the leap from number crunching to become a communications and information-retrieval tool. Second, the machine was being used interactively with all its resources appearing to be devoted to a single individual. It was the first time that truly personal computing had been seen.
On Tuesday, SRI will present “Engelbart and the Dawn of Interactive Computing: SRI’s Revolutionary 1968 Demo,” a 40th anniversary celebration of what technology writer Steven Levy once called “the mother of all demos.”
Photo by Stanford Research Institute
1 comment December 9, 2008
Microsoft’s Free PC Protection
What’s New:
- Pictures – Naughty Nature
- Technology – Blu-Spec CD
- Videos – Charice Pempengco
REDMOND, Wash. — Nov. 18, 2008 — To address the growing need for a PC security solution tailored to the demands of emerging markets, smaller PC form factors and rapid increases in the incidence of malware, Microsoft Corp. plans to offer a new consumer security offering focused on core anti-malware protection.
Code-named “Morro,” this streamlined solution will be available in the second half of 2009 and will provide comprehensive protection from malware including viruses, spyware, rootkits and trojans. This new solution, to be offered at no charge to consumers, will be architected for a smaller footprint that will use fewer computing resources, making it ideal for low-bandwidth scenarios or less powerful PCs. As part of Microsoft’s move to focus on this simplified offering, the company also announced today that it will discontinue retail sales of its Windows Live OneCare subscription service effective June 30, 2009. (more…)
Add comment November 18, 2008
Town in the middle of a Lake
Here’s something you don’t see every day: a town built in the middle of a lake. Not on an island, but actually below water level. It’s the ancient city of Seuthopolis, in Bulgaria, which was discovered in 1948. Six years later, a dam was destroyed and it was covered in water, ending up at the bottom of a huge lake. Now, the city is being unearthed via the most insane architectural project ever.
This is going to be done via the construction of a huge circular dike that’ll be a whopping 1,377 feet in diameter and 65 feet high. People will be able to access the recessed city by boat, heading down into it to see the city. And the focus isn’t on archeology here, but rather on tourism, with Bulgaria looking to create a striking image that draws people in. And really, there are few things that make a town more striking than have it sit on the bottom of a lake. Cool stuff.
4 comments November 7, 2008
Election 2008 Results
OBAMA WINS!
***
| OBAMA | MCCAIN |
|---|---|
| Vermont (3) | Kentucky (8) |
| Pennsylvania (21) | S. Carolina(8) |
| Maine (4) | Tennessee (11) |
| N. Hampshire (4) | Oklahoma (7) |
| Massachusetts (12) | Alabama (9) |
| New Jersey (15) | Arkansas (6) |
| Delaware (3) | Georgia (15) |
| Connecticut (7) | Wyoming (3) |
| D. C. (3) | North Dakota (3) |
| Maryland (10) | Kansas (6) |
| Illinois (21) | West Virginia (5) |
| Rhode Island (4) | Louisiana (9) |
| Michigan (17) | |
| Wisconsin (10) | |
| Minnesota (10) | |
| New York (31) | |
| Ohio (20) | |
| New Mexico (5) | |
| Total: 200 | Total: 90 |
Frequent updates to be posted.
Add comment November 4, 2008
Happy Halloween!
TOP TEN REASONS TRICK-0R-TREATING IS BETTER THAN SEX
10. Guaranteed to get at least a little something in the sack.
9. If you get tired, wait ten minutes and go at it again.
8. The uglier you look, the easier it is to get some.
7. You don’t have to compliment the person who gave you some.
6. Person giving you some, doesn’t fantasize you’re someone else.
5. If you get a stomach ache, it won’t last for nine months.
4. If you wear your Batman mask, no one will think you’re weird. (This one is especially funny to some people we know)
3. Doesn’t matter if kids hear you moaning and groaning.
2. No guilt the next morning.
And, the #1 reason trick or treating is better than sex….
1. If you don’t get what you want, you can always go next door.
Add comment October 31, 2008
