Wow, I liked the sidebar in the demos I saw of the next version of Windows, you could “roll your own info bar” – but you don’t need to wait for Windows now – Google today introduced Google Desktop Version 2 with a Google Sidebar, a panel on your desktop which provides convenient, one-glance access to all sorts of personalized information that is similar to the sidebar that you are going to see in the upcoming Windows Vista (previously Longhorn)... [via] Link.
Interesting new self-publishing? – Amazon.com Inc. started selling new works of short literature and nonfiction Friday from authors who write them exclusively for the Internet retailer. It won’t be offering printed editions, just digital copies of short stories that can be e-mailed, downloaded or printed from a Web site for 49 cents a pop. [via] Link.
ZaphodB42 writes “We’ve all seen that spiffy “transparent” desktop hack on the net. But thats ancient history. Here is a quicktime movie of a “live” transparent desktop. Ok, you’ve probably figured out that its not a “real” transparent desktop. For one thing, I did not have all the camera angles perfect, so things do not line up exactly. The video cameras I have do not have a wide enough zoom lens. But with a little more time, I’ll get things aligned and post a new video. Still a neat trick”. Link.
Entertaining article on why most of us buy CD players…One of the great puzzles of gadgetry goes thusly: Why are portable CD players outselling digital audio players three-to-one? No, that’s not a misprint—for every American who bought an iPod or Dell Jukebox in 2004, three of their countrymen bought a descendant of the 21-year-old Discman… Link.
Building a computer is a very rewarding experience. You can learn more about computer hardware by building a computer than you can by reading every computer hardware textbook ever written. Aside from that, you get a totally personalized computer that no OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) could match, and there is also the opportunity to save a lot of money in the process. The only downside is that you won’t have any technical support number to ring, or any warranty service, so there may be a chance that you will have to pay more for service (if you don’t repair yourself). So now you’ve been sold on the merits, read on to find out how… [via] Link.
Here’s MAKE photo pool member Mr.Bill’s Basic Stamp set up (and tinkering)…My BASIC Stamp bench setup. RS232 that goes to a serial-to-USB adapter connected to the iMac G5, Radio Shack 9V 300mA “battery eliminator” for power, and parts, parts, and more parts. Link.
Tea Vui Huang introduces a new application for Multimedia Messaging (MMS): bite-size podcasts. An MMS message is a multimedia presentation that encompasses images and audio clips. This innovative new telco software converts Enhanced Podcasts into chapters of MMS messages. The MMS podcasts can then be fetched on demand by the user, or pushed to the user on a subscription basis. Link.
