News aggregator
Facebook leapfrogs Google's Orkut in India
Facebook’s popularity has overtaken Google’s Orkut in India, where Mountain View’s social network site had previously – and somewhat surprisingly – reigned supreme.…
Server recovery picks up steam in Q2
The recovery in the server business is building momentum, and the box counters at IDC believe that server makers peddled and pushed $10.9bn in aluminum, tin, and iron in the second quarter of 2010, an increase of 11 per cent compared to last year.…
BBC adopts <i>El Reg</i> units
We're delighted to announce that the Beeb appears to have got with the programme and adopted official El Reg units.…
Consumers Union calls for NFC regulation
As America wakes up to the idea of pay-by-phone the Consumers Union is calling for greater regulation, concerned that proximity payments may not receive any protection at all.…
PARIS team cracks Vulture 1-X wing
The Paper Aircraft Released Into Space (PARIS) team has spent the last couple of days working on a definitive Vulture 1-X wing structure, having already tried and rejected a few options.…
Playlist.com goes titsup
Labels both large and small, as well as songwriters' organisations, are owed millions after Playlist.com filed for bankruptcy.…
Home Office unveils new UK passport
The Home Office has said that new UK passports with 'strengthened security features' will be issued from October.…
Royal Society opens inquiry into why kids hate tech
The Royal Society has opened its investigation into why kids are so bored with technology and computing classes in British schools - even if they're obsessed with their mobiles and iPods and applications like Facebook.…
Printable Flyer Templates Now Live
Template maestro Kevin Savetz has launched a new site, this time for flyer templates. http://www.PrintableFlyerTemplates.net/ has 40 flyer templates in DOC and PDF formats.
There are templates for lost cats, garage sales, apartments for rent, door hangers, and parties/events. Templates are divided into categories and searchable by keyword (which isn’t necessary because there aren’t huge numbers of templates.) If you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can request a new template.
All templates are available in DOC and PDF format. You have to accept a terms of use to download them but you don’t have to register.
This site isn’t Kevin’s only one, not by a long shot; you can see more of his printable template empire at http://www.savetzpublishing.com/. He has sites for fax covers, clip art, coloring pages, calendars, timesheets, family tree templates, grocery lists, mazes, etc etc etc etc etc. You could give your printer quite a workout going through his sites. Check it out.
You might also like:Meego goes 3D
Yesterday Nokia and Intel announced that the future of mobile interfaces is 3D, and that everyone else will soon be following their Meego platform into the third dimension.…
Facebook Gets on the Checkin Bandwagon
Foursquare. Yelp. Gowalla. There are plenty of services allowing you to let the world know where you go. And now there’s a new one from Facebook: Facebook Places. (Facebook Places is currently for the US only.)
Announced by Facebook last week, Facebook Places works with Facebook for iPhone or if your mobile phone can access http://touch.facebook.com/. There will be a “Check In” button (Facebook will also ask to know your location.) You’ll get a list of places near you and you can either check in to an existing place or add one. Of course this shows up on your wall.
Not only can you check in yourself, but you can tag friends who are with you. Surely nobody would abuse THAT feature, would they? (More about that in a minute.) You can also see other people who are checked in with you in the same place.)
Personally I have no interest in participating in Facebook Places, though I’m sure all y’all would be fascinated by my extensive treks between home, work, and the grocery store. If you don’t want to play either — or if you want to make sure that your friends don’t check you in to places — visit this detailed article by LifeHacker which walks you through making sure your checkins are not shared, and that your friends can’t check in to places for you.
You might also like:New Online Database for Gaelic Place Names
Thanks to HeraldScotland.com for the pointer to a new guide on Gaelic place names.
The National Gazetteer of Gaelic Place Names is located at http://www.ainmean-aite.org/ and is available in English and Gaelic. Currently it contains information on about 1000 Gaelic place names throughout Scotland. You can do a simple search by keyword, and advanced search (across several fields) or view all place names from A-Z.
I did a search for Glasgow. I got an information page showing the Gaelic name (Glaschu) and meaning, along with information about the location including location and local authority, elements (“G/P glas, ‘green, grey’ + *cu, ‘hollow’”), and pointers to external resources and more information.
In addition to the Gaelic names database the site also has some Gaelic maps, guidelines to Gaelic place names and orthography, a link list, and a blog (with one entry so far.)
You might also like:Why Android won't worry RIM and Apple
Opinion My US colleagues are regulars on John C Dvorak's excellent Cranky Geeks and a highlight of the show. I was recently intrigued to hear the opinion from Vulture West Coast (in Episode 232) that RIM was toast, and Android would triumph. Now, bearing in mind that I've been wrong about mobile more than I've been wrong about anything else - quite epically and unheroically wrong - I beg to differ.…
'Spintronic' computing gets closer with laser 'lectron discovery
Boffins in Kansas report that they have made a breakthrough in "spintronics" - the postulated future technology which might replace today's conventional electronics and allow much more powerful IT hardware.…
Pupils find teacher's abuse images
A teacher who let a class use his laptop was given a suspended sentence yesterday after kids found child sex abuse images in his recycling bin.…
Apple snubs O2's handset enviro-spec rating
O2 has added environmental impact to its handset specifications, rating the Palm Pre as the worst while Sony Ericsson's Elm left the smallest footprint.…
Ex-prez sues Fujitsu over ousting
The ex-president of Fujitsu has thrown a sue ball at his former employer, following his ousting from the company in September 2009.…
How extreme is your pr0n? Depends on your lawyer
Analysis In matters of extreme porn, the message of recent cases seems to be that whether you get off increasingly depends on how familiar your legal team are with a law still in its courtroom infancy.…
Apple patches 13 bugs in OS X
Apple has punched out a security update for some major bugs found in its Mac OS X operating system.…
Dixons done for dumping customer info in skip
Dixons has had its wrist slapped for leaving customer details in a skip outside one of its PC World stores.…
