Archive for the ‘Time Wasters’ Category

Computer Virus Visualizations

Posted on March 8th, 2008 in Computer software/hardware, Downloads, Lacking a Category, Photos/Videoes, Software/Hardware Reviews, Tech News, Time Wasters | 1 Comment »

Ever wondered what the code to a computer virus looks like?

Neither have I. But this guy has taken the actual source code of common computer viruses and turned it into a visual image of each computer virus.
I’d like to know more about how he did it, but the article doesn’t say, it just includes some very cool pictures.

Computer Virus Visualization

El Bulli

Posted on March 3rd, 2008 in Lacking a Category, Photos/Videoes, Things we should do more of, Time Wasters | 1 Comment »

In a slightly random departure of our normally scheduled/planned tech news…we broach upon…food.
I understand that El Bulli has been out there for years, but this is the first time I personally have heard of this restaurant. Of course, it would help that I am not in habit of regularly checking world-renowned restaurants…but…

El Bulli is a restaurant in Catalonia, Spain. Its a very small restaurant. It only serves 8000 people a season. With a small catch. More than 800,000 want to be served. What’s special about this place? Well…its run by Ferran Adria, who is perhaps the best chef out there, and probably a genius. Food genius :)
What they do is innovate on food. Instead of making, say, extremely good pork chops, or any particularly good “normal” food, they and i quote “deconstruct” popular dishes and remake them.
Each season, they create a new course list and last years menu included, snow balls that were stuffed with strawberries, tangerine/carrot whipped fluff, and other interesting things that I just really can’t describe.
For this….check out the video: El Bulli on Youtube
Also…despite the overwhelming popularity of the restaurant, Adria continues to run at a loss, for the 8th year in a row, with cost per diner at exactly 250 euros. Hey…if you can get a spot…250 euros isnt that bad for a 30 course dinner that spans 4 hours ;)

File Destructor

Posted on February 28th, 2008 in Computer software/hardware, Dumb Things That Happen, Tech News, Time Wasters | 1 Comment »

Now, Flashladybug does not condone this service, we are only reporting this ;) We will be held irresponsible for any problems that may occur from the use of this service.
File destructor 2.0 lets you create documents of a certain size that, upon opening in the right program, will give a “file corrupt” error.
What use is this? Well, as the site shows, you can *cough* hand this in instead of your actual document *cough* and get a few extra hours until whoever you gave the file to realizes its corrupt.
This is…interesting.
Check it out: File Destructor 2.0

Graffiti, geek style

Posted on February 24th, 2008 in Computer software/hardware, Photos/Videoes, Tech News, Time Wasters | No Comments »

So, there’s graffiti, and then theres graffiti. You have the interesting things that people put on the walls, and then you have random scribbles. We now bring you a different class of graffiti.
Behold…graffiti that contains “Born to be root”, “Loading Please Wait”, and, a printer that paints on sidewalks?

After the jump, theres a small gallery of true geek style graffiti, and then a new approach. This new approach uses a “printer” like device to print graffiti. This can print it on the roads using washable paint, or on walls. It’s an interesting little piece of hardware, check it out at Web Urbanist

Music using WIN XP and Vista sounds

Posted on February 20th, 2008 in Labs/Experiments, Photos/Videoes, Picture of the Day, Site of the Day, Time Wasters | No Comments »

RIAA: Now lives in an even *further* universe than before

Posted on February 16th, 2008 in Computer software/hardware, Dumb Things That Happen, Tech News, Time Wasters | No Comments »

The RIAA announced at the State of the Net conference that its considering filters that reside on computers that detect copyright infringement. First question that pops up…why on earth would you install this? Their answer: bundle it with anti-virus software. The next logical question would be…how much would the RIAA pay anti-virus companies for all their lost business? I mean seriously, everyone would just use a free antivirus solution.
This concludes the report that the RIAA has just moved even further away from our universe. Right now…its like a speck. :P
Thanks publicknowledge for this wonderful tidbit of insanity.

007-Inspired Submersible Car

Posted on February 16th, 2008 in Dumb Things That Happen, Photos/Videoes, Time Wasters | No Comments »

“A Swiss company claims to have developed the world’s first submersible car,
directly inspired by James Bond’s Lotus in The Spy Who Loved Me.

Named the sQuba, the vehicle promises to be able to drive on land, float on
the surface of the water and also dive to a depth of 10m (33ft).”

See a photo of the design, and read more about the car here :
http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/driving/news/article3368448.ece

And if this idea seems all washed up, take a look @ this full-scale replica of a Formula One car done in 956,000 matchsticks.
http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/pictures-artist-builds-
full-sized-f1-car-using-956-000-matchsticks

Short, Shark Tank interruption

Posted on February 7th, 2008 in Dumb Things That Happen, Time Wasters | 6 Comments »

Today, I give you a rather funny Shark Tank reading. I know…its like a week old, but I’m cycling through my firefox tabs. ;)

This is titled…1% genius, 99% patience.
And, in the off chance this thing goes down, I have it copied here. *Note: This is quoted and copied word for word*

User calls help desk pilot fish with a pretty routine problem: “I
have an e-mail from corporate communications that says I need to click
on a link to update my security settings,” user says. “But every time I
do, nothing happens. I don’t know if my security settings are updated
or not.”

Fish: OK, are you looking at this e-mail right now?

User: “Yes.”

Fish: Can you see the link that you’re supposed to click on to update your security settings?

User: “Yes.”

Fish: Great, let’s go ahead and move your mouse pointer over the link and then left-click once.

User: “What?”

Fish: Just move the mouse over the link in the e-mail and left-click
once. It should launch a security update screen, or it may just
indicate that the security settings are being updated.

User: “Well, I’m left-clicking the mouse, but I’m not sure if anything is happening.”

Fish: Does a new screen appear over the e-mail after you click on it?

User: “No, nothing’s on the screen.”

Fish: You’re looking at the e-mail, right?

User: “Yes.”

Fish: How can there be nothing on the screen if you’re looking at the e-mail?

User: “There’s nothing on the screen.”

Fish: But you just said you’re looking at your e-mail. How can there be nothing on the screen?

User: “I don’t know, but there’s nothing on the screen.”

Fish: Is your e-mail software open?

User: “No.”

Fish: It’s not?

User: “Correct, it’s not open.”

Fish: OK. Can you please describe what you see on your screen?

User: “Well, there’s a ‘My computer’ icon, recycle bin, ‘My documents’ icon…”

Fish: This sounds like your computer’s desktop. Where is the e-mail with the link you said that you were looking at?

User: “I deleted it yesterday.”

Fish: You deleted it yesterday?

User: “Yes.”

Fish: How are you looking at it if you deleted it yesterday?

User: “I printed out a copy of the e-mail yesterday before deleting it.
I put the printed e-mail down on my desk so I could read it, put the
mouse over the link and left-clicked the mouse…”

Fish: Can you open your e-mails and go to your deleted items?

User: “Sure.”

Fish: Is the e-mail with the link to update your security settings there?

User: “Yes.”

Fish: Please open the e-mail.

User: “OK.”

Fish: Click on the link to update the security settings.

User: “OK. Hey, something is happening. Wow! You are a genius! Thank you so much!”

Thank you Computerworld for your wonderful shark tanks :)

BANG! (random utility of the day)

Posted on February 6th, 2008 in Computer software/hardware, Downloads, Dumb Things That Happen, Time Wasters | 1 Comment »

Here….is one of those programs that really makes you think…why did someone write this?
BANG! forces your computer to crash….on demand. You run the .exe, and it shows a dialog box. This box…sad to say, contains a big red button that says “Crash Now!”. Theres also a small button that says “Never Mind” Now seriously, who in their right mind, with that dialog box infront of them click the little box and not click on the big red button? :P
Sadly, this is made by osronline, and they require registration to get this totally useless app. If you really want it…check it out: OSRonline.com

11 Ways Geeks Would Prepare for an Apocalyptic Asteroid Impact

Posted on January 30th, 2008 in Dumb Things That Happen, How To's, Labs/Experiments, Lacking a Category, Photos/Videoes, Science!, Site of the Day, Software/Hardware Reviews, Tech News, Time Wasters | No Comments »

BBSpot.com’s
11 Ways Geeks Would Prepare for an Apocalyptic Asteroid Impact

11.     Start a “preparing for armageddon” blog.
10.     Calculate force at which asteroid will hit Earth and compare it to power of Vorlon planet killers.
9.     Wait patiently for Ford Prefect.
8.     Go crazy with the credit card at the Apple store.
7.     Start post-apocalyptic movie marathon and take notes.
6.     Encase yourself in carbonite for preservation.
5.     Point out that we should’ve listened to Hawking and gotten off the planet.
4.     Blame it on Microsoft.
3.     Buy one of those crank-powered laptops.
2.     Find location of impact on Google Maps.
1.     Start cranking out more SETI units in hopes of finding an alien civilization that can save Earth.

From
http://www.bbspot.com/News/2008/01/top-11-apocalyptic-asteroid-impact.html