iPod integration with Laptop

This interesting piece of patent marginalia shows a potential iPod Mini stuck inside a potential PowerBook. This is actually probably just Apple’s way of covering its arse when someone comes out with a similar notion of an MP3 player built into a laptop, something about prior art or whatever, but the premise is compelling. The iPod acts as the laptop’s touch pad and, like some other laptops we’ve seen, the screen supplies handy info like battery life, grayscale pr0n, and track listings. Will it ever be made? Naw. But it’s nice to know someone is thinking out in Cupertino.

News in Brief

Dead iPod Remembered As Expensive

VENTURA, CA—A third-generation, 30-GB iPod, serial number AP356372, died early Monday morning at age 2. "I'll never forget all the great music it used to play during my workouts," said the late iPod's owner Sarah Zartman at a brief memorial held over the junk drawer. "It was convenient, portable, and really pricey—almost $500." Zartman said that, had she known the iPod's lithium-ion battery would have such a short lifespan, she might have spent more time listening to it. AP356372 is survived by a BlackBerry.

Onion - In The News - June 2005

Bush Caught In One Of His Own Terror Traps State Champs Erect Triumphal Arch PETA Complains As Revised SAT Tested On Chimpanzees Origami Bird Poached For Scrap Paper Lower Class Dismissed

Enchanted By Own Innocence, Michael Jackson Molests Self Life At Neverland Ranch Returns To Ludicrous Secret Service Not Sure If That Suit Of Armor Was In Oval Office Yesterday New Lawn-Care Product Makes Neighbor's Lawn Less Green Mail-Order Bride Comes In Wrong Color, Size

Google's 3-D Map Imaging Plan

Developers: More Info on Google's 3D Maps
from the this-will-rock-for-directions dept.
Will Stewart writes "You have doubtless read that Silicon Valley Watcher reported on Google plans to use trucks equipped with lasers and digital photographic equipment to create a realistic 3D, online version of San Francisco and eventually other major US cities, but you may not have seen the picture of where the trucks are kept and Berkeley's unrelated research project and published technical research (PDF file)."

Quotes of the Day

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
- Aristotle

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ...'
- Isaac Asimov

Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today.
- Herman Wouk

Social Trust

Firefox Extension for Applied Social Networking
Posted by Hemos on Monday June 20, @10:19AM
from the grinding-out-the-documentation-of-relationships dept
wanderingstan writes "Outfoxed is my masters thesis project about trust. (Nutshell overview) The extension uses a social network for personalized searching, phishing/spyware protection, file/process validation and more. It's related to del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, and those Kevin Bacon things, but goes a lot further. Mathematically, it's based on the network behavior of small world networks (pdf). Built with Javascript, Python, SQL, and XSLT. 366 testers so far, but we need the network to grow!"

Firefox & Extensions

I understand that it is often difficult to maintain an edge on rapidly changing technologies...so I have tried to ease the process by sending e-mails like this to help you stay current with technology.

I am sure most of you have heard of Mozilla's open source browser named Firefox. If you haven't downloaded Firefox, you are missing out on the best way to browse the Internet. Some of the features include: popup blocking, tabbed browsing, enhanced privacy & security, enhanced searches and hundreds of extension that enhance day-to-day web browsing. My favorite extensions are listed below.

• Adblock - blocks unwanted advertisements (including flash) through content filtering
• BetterSearch - enhances Google, MSN Search, Yahoo Search, A9, Answers.com, AllTheWeb, del.icio.us bookmarks and Simpy.com by adding previews (thumbnails) and Amazon product images and info (type, price, rating) as well as "Open in New Window", "Site Info", "Wayback Machine" links and a Quick Preview feature to the search results
• CustomizeGoogle - enhances Google search results by adding extra information (like links to Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, MSN etc) and removing unwanted information (like ads and spam)
• e-WebMail Color & Graphics - Enables Color and Graphics for Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail and MyWay composition in Firefox
• Favorites Converter - easily export Firefox's Bookmarks into IE Favorites format
• Flat Bookmark Editing - edit bookmarks in the bookmark manager, without opening the properties window
• ForecastFox - displays weather information on any toolbar in Firefox - includes multiday forecasts
• Hotmail Tabs - Microsoft, for some reason, changed Hotmail's link handling so that it was done entirely through JavaScript. In lay man's terms, this stopped everyone (any browser) opening new windows or tabs for their mails etc. This extension is the solution
• Image Toolbar - single-click access to common actions for Images (e.g. saving and copying)
• IEView - adds "View page in Internet Explorer" links to the content and link context menu. Handy for previewing pages in IE, loading up IE-only pages when you run across them in Mozilla, etc
• MiniT - adds tab dragging with drop place indicator
• ScrapBook - save web pages and easily manage collections. Key features are lightness, speed, accuracy and multi-language support. Major features are: Save Web page; Save snippet of Web page; Save linked Web page; Organize the collection in the same way as Bookmarks tree; Full text search and quick filtering search of the collection; Editing of the collected Web page; Text/HTML edit feature resembling Opera's Notes
• Super DragAndGo - drag link in webpage to open in new tab, drag words to search in new tab, drag graphic to download image
  
• BugMeNot - bypass compulsory web registration via Firefox’s right-click context menu

Onion - Stem Cell Bill

The House recently passed a bill lifting restrictions on stem-cell research, but Bush has threatened to veto the bill if it passes the Senate. What do you think?

Ali Marni Contractor "The Democrats and Republicans—and most of the American public—are actually in agreement over an issue. You can see how Bush would want to put a stop to that right away."				Todd Filbert Lawyer "Some things are just morally reprehensible, like using science to save people's lives."
Tanya Spinks Hand Model "If Bush vetoes this bill, I'm going to veto him! With a bumper sticker, of course."				Gary Schneider Systems Analyst "Hey, if it weren't for scientific research, Christopher Reeve would've died on that polo field and none of this would even be an issue in the first place."
Wesley Wilkes Fry Cook "The Democrats want stem-cell research so they can cure multiple sclerosis. The GOP wants it so they can grow an army of zombies. So Bush is in a tough spot politically."				Rose Anderson Translator "They're not stems, they're babies! And they're not cells, they're babies! And it's not research, it's babies!"

Onion - Medical Marijuana

Last week, the Supreme Court upheld the federal government's right to ban marijuana use, even in states that allow it for medical reasons. What do you think?

Irina Manta Systems Analyst "This is sad news for me and other survivors of nausea."				Brian Netter Tile Setter "I was surprised by the judges' reaction to this whole thing. Especially Scalia, because, y'know, he's cool."
Alan Schoenfeld Shoe Salesman "Well, can't these cancer patients paint, play sports, or listen to music instead of doing drugs? That's what they taught us in health class."				Daniel S. Korobkin Podiatirst "Dude, the small government advocating, states rights supporting conservatives must've been totally high when they wrote that decision."
Robert Yablon Banker "The Court made the right decision. Once you legalize the medical use of marijuana, it's only a matter of time before you start seeing medical use of harder narcotics, like morphine."				Caroline Wilson Lab Supervisor "Great. Now how am I supposed to treat my recurrent case of Doritos Aversion Syndrome?"

Friday in Denver

I woke up at Lorin's house. We made a killer dinner the night before including: potatoe salad, acorn squash, and corn on the cob. He also barbaqued some hamburgers. We polished off a six pack of Guiness before Kevin got home from Coors and turned in just after midnite.
Lorin drove me home in the morning and I worked on finding a job. I researched fortune 500 companies, 100 most admired companies, Collegegrad.com, etc. and compiled a wishlist of companies I would like to work for. I then bookmarked each career site associated with each company.
Later in the night, I again went over to Katie's house and met up with Marshall. We had a few beers (Natural Light) and then made the walk acroos the Pedestrian bridge to The Crusie Room at McCormick's Fish House. It was a trendy environment with overpriced beverages, but it suited our needs. We (Marshall, Katie and I) sat in a retro booth and discussed various topic...none of which are coming to mind. After one beverage, we strolled home and I departed as Katie and Marshall managed to break back into her apartment.

GPS Tracking Device

While hanging out with Marshall and Katie last night, we began talking about the SlopeTracker service available at several ski area in Colorado. The Slope Tracker device is a GPS armband that monitors which runs were skied, how often and vertical drop. At the end of the day, the skier can get a detailed color-coded printout showing the days events.

As the conversation progressed, we decided that the SlopeTracker tool could and should be implimented for mountain biking, hiking, kyaking, rafting, etc. But then we realized taht this tool could also be ported as a safety device. Let's say that the technology could be transformed into a micro wireless device that could be implanted in a shoe or watch. This tool could then be utilized by parents who wondered where little Billy is at 5:30pm. Other applications would allow users to monitor daily motion patterns. When you come home, the GPS device automatically syncs with a software prgram that plots your travel path for the day and gives statistical information.

Pretty cool idea...too bad it is probably in the works already...HERE
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Back in Colorado

Got back to CO on Monday June 13th. Long drive from Kansas and speeding ticket on I-70 didn't help either. Nice to be home in the blue sky and arid climate. Called Smitty and got together with him over at Katie's house. She lives near Paris on the Platte and Shakespeare downtown. Awesome little pad, but midly expensive. It was good to see Marshall, but I got tired around 10:00 and had to excuse myself early. Very tired now and looking forward to a big tomorrow.

I need to:

• Wash my car & Sell 4Runner
• Hunt down one a them jobs...Temp job at REI
  
• Clean room & Unpack from NJ
• Buy frames for diplomas
• Type a bomb-ass cover letter
• Get Vehicle emmissions & register vehicle
• Visit with Alex and Hiedi
  
• and some more shit too
  

Welcome to Yoto's Journal

This is my first post on Yoto's Journal, but many more will come