November 2003
Thanksgiving!
I just wanted to let everyone know that I had a great thanksgiving and that we made it back OK. I’ll try to elaborate later on the turkey-day details if I get some time (homework blows :P)
Music Stuff
First I’ll tell you about the less well known underground people and then the COMMERCIAL SELLOUTS :D
One Mile Wish [ website ] [ garageband link ] [ media ]
These guys are awesome! I’ve watched them grow in their various forms into what they are today. I’ve known Dan (guitarist and webmaster) since about 1999 via IRC. Since then he’s moved from Delaware to LA and has put together this...
Whoa...Car Pinball
So I hear my roommate Will Read hopping out the door at around 1:40 this morning and he comes back in and yells “Jacqui!” so I ask him what’s up. Long story short, some dude was impatient in the parking lot and decided he would speed around a girl who was pulling into/out-of a spot rather than waiting.
Well she kept coming and he sped up. He over corrected and hit an SUV on the far side of...
Ranked 3rd
So its kinda silly but I’m ranked 3rd on google for the search term Clint
Pretty neat eh? :P
Rendezvous Proxy, Supercomputers, GNUpod, Easter...
EETimes: Supercomputer benchmarks to be overhauled by 2006
An app called Rendezvous Proxy allows you to trick your computer into thinking that any foreign host is local to your subnet. This means you can share music with iTunes and access other rendezvous services from people anywhere on the internet as though they were just down the hallway.
EETimes: Itanium to get multithreading in...
Its Friday...
…and you know what that means? It means double-cheeseburger motzarella sticks at the Sweet Shop. It also means that I’m going to be doing a Friday five:
1. Using one adjective, describe your current living space
disheveled
2. Using two adjectives, describe your current employer.
Fabulous and Supportive (I’m a student)
3. Using three adjectives, describe your favorite...
What's been playing on your iPod Lately?
Over the past few weeks I’ve been pretty busy, but I’ve been able to pick up some new music and develop some taste for some new albums that’ve come out. I’ve found about four albums I’ve really enjoyed and have entered heavy rotation on my iPod and I’d like to share them. So without furthe adieu:
Zebrahead – MFZB :: I reccomend the song(s) “Hello Tomorrow”, “Type A”, and “Over the...
PC Application Allows MP3 downloading from iTunes
Someone has created an application named MyTunes that allows PC users to connect to the shared music in iTunes (windows or PC I assume) and download their music. If the precedent set by these sort of apps on OS X follows the course, the site will be shut down within days ;)
FaradNet
I just ran across this somewhat funny-sounding site.
On a related note, I’ve been getting a lot of use out of my own Capacitor Resource which was recently updated with a plethora of new information on CAPACITORS.
AIM for the Newton, OS 10.3 things
What in the World??
via ~stevenf
Obscure Panther Features
via Splorp
MIGFETS
Who wrote this article?. I WROTE THAT. Now I am famous ;P
Random Interesting Links
I’m into all things wireless:
Wireless Mesh Networking Gathers Steam
Wireless ad hoc mesh networking will get a boost on two levels this week with the unveiling of startup PacketHop Inc. and the announcement that wireless home networking and automation proponent Zensys A/S has entered into a business partnership with Intel Corp.
This link doesn’t make me feel happy: Diary of an Unemployed...
Classes for Next (and final) Semester
Well they’ve been finalized and here they are:
ECET 359
At the end of this course students should be able to:
Describe the addressing modes of PCs.
Discuss the values and drawbacks of various PC busses and interface connections.
Design PC peripheral hardware
Identify the necessary capabilities of a commercial add-in card for a specific application
Do high-level...
Me and My Toolbox
You might remember back in September when I thought I had lost my toolbox
Well two weeks ago I was given the opportunity to take a night session in a class (ECET 480) watching two presentations (on Professional Engineering licensing and Entrepreneurship) and watch a movie called “Class Action“http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0101590/.
Anyways, I had been on campus since about 7:30 (I had a lab). ...
Microsoft adds something useful to IE?
Well no, they didn’t fix any horrible rendering issues. But they have added pop-up blocking to the version of IE. A step in the right direction!
Penn State Students Revolt Against Retarded...
Penn State students revolt against Napster, DRM invasion
At the heart of the Penn State/Napster service is something the organizations are calling a “tethered download.” As romantic as that sounds, it’s not all that convenient. Students can download – or stream – all the songs they like for free but can only use or play the tunes while at Penn State. After their four tuition-paying years are up,...
Encoding DVD on OS X: Making it Easier
Check out this cool application named Handbrake that makes ripping to XVID super easy on OS X.
Here’s hoping for more advancements in this app!
More Cool Mac OS X Hints: Enable Graphing...
It appears that you can now have plugins for Apple’s calculator app. Apple was even so kind as to include three new view for Calculator.app (albeit hidden). Follow this tip to enable the new views. They are “Expression Sheet”, “Graphing”, and “Hexidecimal View”.
Using OS X's Fast User Swiching From the Command...
Check out this cool hint for using FUS from the command-line rather than from Apple’s stupid menu item.
Conversely, check out this simple screen saver that will use this command-line method to lock your machine once the screen saver kicks in.
However, one of the more annoying aspects of Apple’s fast user switching is that it sends commands to iTunes to stop playing music and it also tells...
Inside the Mind of a Virus Writer
BBC News: A glimpse inside the virus writer
“The stereotype that virus writers are all young teenage boys with no social life, hiding in their basement is not accurate,” she said. In contrast, she said, most virus creators are typical for their age, are on good terms with friends and family and are often contributors to their local community.
Setting up Postfix and IMAP to check UNIX Mail on...
I found this cool link the other day while looking for a way to setup an IMAP server on my iBook. Its pretty useful. Note, you must have developer tools installed.
Remember you have to restart inetd or reboot before you can use the servers.
Cool OS X Software for November
FUSkey
FUSKey or Fast User Switch Key, is a simple application which lets you set a global keyboard shortcut to logout of Mac OS X with Fast User Switching.
QuickImageCM
Contextual menu plugin for MacOS X that displays graphic image files without launching any application. It also has some other feature like adding/removing thumbnail icons, copying image to clipboard, moving to trash,...
Geeky Links
The Future of String Theory
Information in the Holographic Universe
Running Multiple Versions Of IE
Using Encryption and Digital Signatures in Mail
OS X Server 10.3 - Apparently Fabulous
AFP548.com gives 10.3 Server a HUGE thumbs-up
Apparently the coolest update is the integration of Kerberos for single sign-on. When you sign onto your OS X opendirectory you’re authenticated for mail, file services, etc… Kerberos is pretty neat.
Cross-site Scripting
Saw this cool article on /. (ugh) and thought it’d be a good read seeing as I do this stuff for a living (write PHP apps, not exploit cross-site scripting) ;)
Read the PDF Here
UIUC Creates World's Fastest Transistor
Our university neighbors to the west have developed the world’s faster transistor :)
Their latest device, with a frequency of 509 gigahertz, is 57 gigahertz faster than their previous record holder and could find use in applications such as high-speed communications products, consumer electronics and electronic combat systems
We should have a 304 lab on these
The Dawn of the e-Bomb: Radio Frequency Bombs
In these media-fueled times, when war is a television spectacle and wiping out large numbers of civilians is generally frowned upon, the perfect weapon would literally stop an enemy in his tracks, yet harm neither hide nor hair. Such a weapon might shut down telecommunications networks, disrupt power supplies, and fry an adversary’s countless...
EET Stuff: EMI, XOBX CPU's, etc..
I haven’t done this in a while, but here are some cool documents:
Lost Link Bandwidth – How to get it Back
Link bandwidth can be a slippery animal. Without careful thought on the front end of the design, attenuation, reflections and system noise can quickly turn a planned 10 Gbits/s link into one with a much less throughput. With a thoughtful approach to the entire signal path and inclusion...
Useless PHP Class
During physics lecture yesterday, for no good reason, I wrote a PHP class that converts rectangular coordinates (a+jb) into polar coordinates (mag@angle) and back again. It’s all very exciting so check out the source (it’s somewhat commented): and if you really want it you can download it
Maybe I’ll use this class to write an entire EE suite of classes! For PHP! For the Web! If only I could...
Update on Classes, Projects
My weekly update or so ;) I’ve gotten the results of my second ECET 304 exam. I got a 92 on it so I’m pretty happy about that.
Also in the same course my group has completed our milestone three circuit board layout. I present it for you! :)