Archive for the 'Other' Category

Mice epidemic

Published
by
Austen
on May 2, 2007
in Other and Videos
. 0 Comments

I was emailed this by my brother Alex… Don’t watch this if you have even the slightest fear of mice. Seriously. It’s that scary. That’s one reason why I’m not embedding it. It’s a very disturbing video. Not like graphic violence or anything, but like freak people out a lot.

Mice Epidemic video (YouTube)

Ewwww!!! I shouldn’t have watched that. The thought of those mice just streaming out is enough to give someone nightmares for the rest of their life.

Then, if that’s not enough, be sure to check out this mouse that is literally a mouse. (Thanks Presurfer and Mom)

“Photoshop” not a verb

Published
by
Austen
on April 24, 2007
in Other
. 0 Comments

From the Adobe Terms of Use:

The Photoshop trademark must never be used as a common verb or as a noun. The Photoshop trademark should always be capitalized and should never be used in possessive form, or as a slang term. It should be used as an adjective to describe the product, and should never be used in abbreviated form.

And then, look how they go on:

The following examples illustrate these rules:

Trademarks are not verbs.

CORRECT: The image was enhanced using Adobe® Photoshop® software.
INCORRECT: The image was photoshopped.

And to top it off with the big finale…

Trademarks are proper adjectives and should be followed by the generic terms they describe.

CORRECT: The image was manipulated using Adobe® Photoshop® software.

INCORRECT: The image was manipulated using Photoshop.

All I can say is: Ah, shaddup. I know that Adobe has a copyright to protect and everything, but it just seems so… mean and pointles. Google has no problem making their “trademark” a verb… It’s in the dictionary now. I guess I’m over-reacting, but this is really just so stupid!

[Via Digg]

Oh! and on a completely unrelated note, you should definitely check out this picture that was enhanced using Adobe® Photoshop® Elements® software!

The image enhanced using Adobe® Photoshop® Elements® software pokes fun at the Product® Red® campaign, and at Apple Inc.’s® constant updating of their iPod® Nano® line of iPods®.

I’m finding that I’m having a lot of fun while playing with Adobe® Photoshop® Elements® software, you should all get it from Adobe® as soon as you can so you can do more stuff like this image enhanced with Adobe® Photoshop® Elements® software.

Jott things down, minus the pen

Published
by
Austen
on April 5, 2007
in Other
. 2 Comments

Lifehacker posted about Jott, and (I think) my Uncle Bob read it, who then “Jotted” my Mom, who then told me about it. But what is Jott? It’s a little bit hard to explain, but I’ll try.

Basically, Jott is an online web service that allows you to call a number on your cell phone, and the, tell it WHO you want to “Jott.” You can either Jott yourself, or one of your imported email contacts (you did this on the computer earlier.) It then records your 30 second message. Then, about 5 minutes later you (or your contact) should get an email with your speech translated to text.

And now you ask: “But is the Speech-to-Text really THAT good?” And I answer: “If only it were so. It’s actually too good, and my sources tell me (my Uncle Bob) that they actually just have people listening to your message and transcribing it.”

So yes, the idea that someone is just “translating” what you’re saying takes away some of the coolness, but this tool can actually be very useful. For instance, you could be in the waiting room for a doctor’s appointment and you suddenly remember that you haven’t sent out Thank You notes yet - but no problem! You just pull out your cell phone and Jott the message to yourself, so when you get home there’s an email waiting for you literally telling you to send out Thank You notes! (Even though it’s already April)

I’ve tried many times to make contact with these mysterious Transcribers by talking to them in my messages, I’ve even played them music - but all atempts have been futile…

I have a quick question. Will Jott stay free after it’s out of Beta? I thought probably not, but if yes, then at the end of this sentence, put two periods, if no, put one period Please do this, it would mean a lot to me, I just want to know

So they go ahead and put no periods!

transcriber enjoy this music, it’s very good music. [inaudible]

“Inaudible”??? That’s it! A “Thank You” might of been a little bit more polite!

The universe is pretty big

Published
by
Austen
on March 30, 2007
in Other
. 0 Comments

I just discovered this cool flash app that shows everything from neutrons all the way to the universe ourself - in scale. Very cool, done by Nikon

The Universe to Scale

[Thanks Digg]

OpenArena - a free and fun game

Published
by
Austen
on January 7, 2007
in Other
. 0 Comments

Openarena_logo.gifOpenArena is a free, open source, 3D, first person shooter based on the Quake 3 engine (but you don’t need Quake 3 to play the game.) And it’s very cool.

Yes, it’s a mindless video game - but I don’t care, it’s still fun. It’s easy to download from the website (Only 72 MB) and to play on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

The basic thing is that you go around shooting people and garygoles with all sorts of different guns. It’s not THAT violent, there’s not too much else there besides just shooting people and capturing a flag one map, but it’s still a great way to let out stress after a long day at school.

About system requirements, they’re like 256 MB or RAM I think, and it works well on my computer as long as the resolution is below 800×600 - and the graphics are great (for what it is) by the way.

open-arena.jpgopenarena_water_n.jpg

Why candy canes are overrated

Published
by
Austen
on December 24, 2006
in Life and Other
. 0 Comments

Candy Canes are way overrated, here’s why:

1. Although the shape may look cool, and be good for hanging, when you try to eat a candy cane the shape gets in the way and it’s hard to eat.
2. They get really sharp at the ends once you suck on them for a while - safety hazard!
3. The red part is only a thin layer on the top (or at least on the ones that I’ve had) so it’s not REALLY swirly.

4. It’s just like those mints in the size of a cane!

    Blending an iPod

    Published
    by
    Austen
    on December 19, 2006
    in Humor and Other
    . 1 Comment

    What would we do without YouTube?

    [youtube]B8H29jU8Wrs[/youtube]

    The remnants are being sold on Ebay, where it’s currently going for $580 with a free blender and t-shirt added on.

    More Open Source

    Published
    by
    Austen
    on August 16, 2006
    in Life and Other
    . 2 Comments

    Well, after downloading “the basics” I’ve started looking around for more open source software. Here’s some of what I’ve found, downloaded, and loved:

    FeedReader

    A plain ‘n simple RSS feed aggregator that supports both RSS and Atom formats, and works on Windows 98 and above. It’s pretty much perfect. Although it’s a bit slow (as most RSS aggregators are) it works fine.

    Media Player Classic

    Yet another “plain ‘n simple” program that looks nice and simple, like the older versions of windows media player but can play just about any file that there is out there, including quicktime.

    I’ll update this with more later, but I got both of these from this great website for windows open source programs, which also has a macintosh counterpart.

    Open Source Alternatives

    Published
    by
    Austen
    on August 16, 2006
    in Life and Other
    . 3 Comments

    Today I FINALLY decided to enter the world of Open Source. If something is open source, it means that it’s a program that you can download, but you can also view all of the code used to make that program, and you are free to edit and do what you want with it. Because of this, all open source programs are free. That’s right F-R-E-E. EF AR EY EY. Firefox is probably the biggest open source program out there. And if you think Firefox is great, get this: Firefox is a free program very similar to another free program - internet explorer. Now how about a free program very similar to a $600 program??? Sounds like a good deal, huh? Oh - and it’s actually legal!!!

    In case you didn’t realize, I was reffering to Gimpshop, which takes another open source image manipulating program, called The Gimp, and reorganizes it and changes some names to make it look very similar to the industry standard, Adobe Photoshop which costs the same amount of money as this computer. Sound to good to be true? Maybe. The only downside is it’s not an EXACT REPLICA of Photoshop, but still, after a bit of playing around - if you know Photoshop - you’ll get the hang of it. Oh - and it’s for PCs AND Macs.

    But that’s not the only Open Source program out there - there’s much more! Another very popular “Open Source Alternative” is OpenOffice.org. Which is very, VERY similar to Microsoft Office. That’s right, you can get a Word alternative, a Powerpoint alternative, an Excel alternative, even a Paint alternative! Plus a program to do math equations, and a program to (I think) store databases - all in one download! And it’s doesn’t cost $100! It’s 100% free! (Except for your kind heart donating some of your extra cash (about $700) to them for being such nice people. Oh, and just as before: Mac and PC.

    And the best thing about these popular Open Source programs is that, well first off they’re all free, but second off that they have “spin-offs” of people using that same source code and adding extra features, integrating better, and doing so much more! (Some examples are Flock and previously mentioned Gimpshop.)

    Now I’ve just scraped the edges of the Open Source community, there is SOOO much more out there. SOOO much more. I recommend starting at SourceForge.net which hosts just about everything open source. Enjoy, and don’t let the beta bugs bite.

    I can hear it, can you?

    Published
    by
    Austen
    on June 6, 2006
    in Life and Other
    . 1 Comment

    I remember reading about a sound that only people under 20 can hear a while back, and how some store owners are using it to keep teenagers away. Every since then I’ve wanted to hear the sound… well now I’ve found it. This “Mosquito Sound” mp3 is the soft tone of people talking in the room, like in the background but then there’s this really weird sound that, I can hear, and neither of my parents can. It IS pretty annoying, especially if you play it loud enough.

    mosquito_sound.mp3

    And for those readers over 20, if you can hear it - congratulations you have amazing ears! If you can’t, you probably think that I’m making this whole thing up! Well guess what, I’m not! So ha! And ha! I can hear a slightly larger frequency than you!

    Thanks to Ms. Weed my mom for forwarding this to me.

    The End of the World

    Published
    by
    Austen
    on May 2, 2006
    in Other
    . 1 Comment

    During Science the other day, we talked about how the volcano at Yellowstone National Park is due to explode, and it completely clogs up the atmosphere and there is acid rain and lots of things die. Oh - and did I mention that the volcano erupts about every 600,000 years, and it’s been 640,000 years since the last eruption? Ms. Nowak (our science teacher) encouraged us to look online about these things, so I looked around and found this depressing yet fascinating website that not only states the end of the world by a super volcano (yellowstone) but by a hypernova, a meteor, global warming, methane explosions, science experiements, nuclear warfare, virus outbreaks… the list just goes on and on.

    Warning: Don’t read it if in you’re in a good mood, because you’ll feel really bad after reading it.