Dreams Unlimited©

Diary

archives

A list of recent thoughts, things I saw or things I spotted on the Net, things that excite me (Uuh, baby!) or upset me, stuff I hate or love or in any other way find worth the trouble of blogging right here for your entertainment or interest and my archive. ;)

	Sunday, July 31 We're back #Posted by Dreams on 06:28 Just a quick note to say that Petra and I are back from a week of vacation in Condat at my parents' house. We had a beautiful week and got some well deserved rest. Glad to be back, though, too.
	Friday, July 22 Extrema Outdoor 2005 #Posted by Dreams on 19:37 Last weekend, I went with my friends to the all time greatest outdoor summer dance festival: Extrema Outdoor 2005 in Aquabest. Check the pictures to see what an amazing day we've had! Thanks to Petra, Sjoerdski, Martin, Femke, Robin, Astrid, Arjen and Isa for a terrific day! Missing it already. Martin also has pictures.
	LoungeAttitude #Posted by Dreams on 14:57 Just got a word that a friend of mine, Adrian, is opening a new lounge, place, club, restaurant in Rotterdam: Lounge Attitude aka "LA Lounge". Or at least he'll be there for the opening next week. Sadly, we'll be in France then for a short vacation, so we can't go. :( Oh well. (Mental note: work some more on human cloning!)
	IEEE starts hammering out mesh network standard #Posted by Dreams on 09:25 The IEEE starts hammering out mesh network standard. Using this standard, you could put up a WiFi Access Point (AP) anywhere, as long as its range overlaps with another AP that has a connection to a fixed line (somewhere). This way, you could add WiFi to an entire city using only one fixed line. But all your neighbors could also potentially piggy-back their WiFi networks onto yours... ;) So always add WPA encryption to any WiFi network you set up!
	the blogger code #Posted by Dreams on 09:12 Once upon a time, there was the GeekCode. :yawn: ;) So now we have the blogger code. Woohoo! I'm `B9 d++ t+ k s+ u- f++ i+ o x+ e++ l++ c--`. This time around, there's also a blogcode decoder! Neeeat!
	WaSP Meeting Microsoft #Posted by Dreams on 09:07 The Web Standards Project has recently created a Task Force for working and discussing Microsoft's adherences to web standards. Together, they want to make Microsoft's products more compliant with current web standards. This is, of course, a good thing. :) Molly, one of the WaSP's members, has areport on their meetings with Microsoft. I'm glad to hear not everyone at Microsoft is a bonehead! ;) This is never true, of course, but it's always nice to actually get proof of it! :D
	Longhorn to Be called 'Windows Vista' #Posted by Dreams on 08:55 FYI, it's been leaked that the next version of Windows, so far going by the name of Longhorn, will called "Windows Vista".
	Thursday, July 21 Mozilla Firefox - Next Generation Browser #Posted by Dreams on 10:46 After a flurry of activity at Mozilla, Firefox is now available in both a new version as well as new localized versions aka languages. So get the latest edition in your favorite flavor and be done with it.
	DivxToDVD #Posted by Dreams on 10:43 Looking for a way to record a few of those movies from internet to DVD. so the rest of your clan, family or friends can see those "must see" movies too? Look no further. DivxToDVD converts AVI, DivX or XVID files directly to DVD. You can see the audio streams and subtitles. Dunno if you can also edit/change/modify these to your liking but I expect as much. Sadly, the old version is freeware, the newest version is now shareware. But I guess you can live with that. Great software does not need to be free, after all. :)
	Wednesday, July 20 Jelte's at Xosia #Posted by Dreams on 15:43 Found out today that my good old friend Jelte is working for Xosia, together with some friends of his. Small contracting firm for mobile platforms. Specifically, if you needs anything programmed on the Symbian OS platform or Bluetooth, they're your guys!
	Production of Perpendicular Magnetic harddisks #Posted by Dreams on 09:43 SDK seems to have to world premier of mass producing perpendicular magnetic harddisks. That a technology where the magnetic particles are vertically aligned instead of horizontally, which was always the case until now. This way, you can cram in much more bits onto the same surface area. The first disk will hold 40GB on a 1.89" platter (approx 4.75cm) and is well suited for small recording devices such as mp3 or DVD players and phones.
	Tuesday, July 19 Optimus OLED keyboard #Posted by Dreams on 09:20 I'm sure you've already heard of this. It's all over! And rightfully so! This Russian Optimus OLED keyboard is absolutely brilliant. Instead of having normal plastic keys, they've embedded small OLED displays inside of transparent keys. So with the power off, the keys are just plain transparent and there is no visible letter anywhere. With the power on you can program any image onto any key. QWERTY comes to mind, of course, but you could easily change the layout of your keyboard to German, French, Russian or Greek. You only need to change the images displayed behind each key. But wait, there's more...! You could also change the programming for specific programs, like Photoshop, MS Word, GIMP or Quake, Splinter Cell or Warcraft! Cooool! B) The code and API for the keyboard will be open source, so anyone can use, tweak or modify it. Delivery will start in 2006... :respect:
	Monday, July 18 Dual Core Done Right : AMD?s Athlon64 X2 Processors #Posted by Dreams on 11:32 You may or may not have wondered what the heck is up with today's processors aka CPUs. If you are in the mood to buy a new computer, what do you have to look for? Well, thankfully, GamePC has done a thorough test of today's latest (dual core) CPUs, so you can read their results. Bottomline, if you buy a high-end computer, get an AMD Athlon64 X2 processors if you want state-of-the-art. Not only are they dual core, they perform faster, consume less power (much less) and are cheaper. Even if you do a lot of digital image processing, typicalyl an Intel stronghold, the lastest AMD processors (but only the newest!) will beat out Intel or get so close that the cheaper AMD just makes sense! And since games don't know what to do with dual cores yet, it doesn't really matter and again the cheaper AMD wins. Excellent review!
	T3 - Tomorrow's Technology Today #Posted by Dreams on 11:05 Sometimes it pays to check your spam folder to see if anything accidently got canned when it shouldn't. I'm glad I did because I found out tha T3 has revamped their website and put up a lot more info and useful stuff! :) It's still not where I'd like to see it (all previous issues archived online, including info, pics and links), but it's a good start! They also used current XHTML design so it's minimal and looks great and works across all platforms. Even if you'd surf in from a PDA or phone. B) And last but not least... the T3 girls... :drool: (y) Whadda sight for your eyes!
	Friday, July 15 Fujitsu shows bendable electronic color paper #Posted by Dreams on 08:39 I was waiting for this! :) Fujitsu was made electronic paper. Philips already had B&W ePaper (or E-paper) for a while and you could fold it up. Fujitsu has improved on it and made color E-paper. The cool thing about these types of paper is they don't need power to maintain an image, so once loaded and displayed it stays on (for long). They also very little power and are therefore ideal for mobiel devices, road-side signs, ads or displays in cars, airports, shops, etc.
	Thursday, July 14 Wilma from "Buck Rogers" #Posted by Dreams on 14:40 It came up in normal conversation, don't ask why, but I started wondering what ever happened to that gorgeous tall woman who walked around Buck Rogers in tight spandex catsuits... Google helped me find The Official Erin Gray Fan Club. She's a busy beaver (no pun intended!) and still acts, appears and works in the movie/TV industry. Cool! Now I wonder where I can download those sexy early 80s episodes as DivX files...? ;)
	Tuesday, July 12 How much sysops does it take to run a roller coaster? #Posted by Dreams on 08:46 There is more in Cedar Point's "The Dragster" than in an average data center! In "This net screams", NetworkWorld illustrates the IT that's is used to monitor and tweak the settings of this lastest roller coaster. 170km copper cable carries data from 300 redundant pairs (!) of sensors (thermal, proximity and pneumatic) along the track to the engine room. The system is so finely tuned that the weight of the people, the wind speed and temperature are all used each single time to tweak the settings just enough to give everyone the ultimate ride... Wow, I'm impressed!
	Monday, July 11 Bush admits to being hotter and gassier #Posted by Dreams on 10:37 Bush has an amazing interpretation on what's causing the greenhouse effect! ROFL
	Pocket PC Vs Palm: What to Choose #Posted by Dreams on 10:08 Ever been in the situation where you want to buy a PDA but can't decide between a Windows PocketPC (iPAQ, etc.) or a Palm/Handspring (Treo, Tungsten, etc.)? What are the trade-off's? Are there distinct advantages between one or the other? Is it usage dependent? What does one have that the other doesn't? Tux:tops made a thorough investigation of just this subject. Pocket PC Vs Palm: What to Choose Conclusion: "If you are after gaming, multimedia, good WiFi+Bluetooth support, a lot of accessories and versatility, go with Pocket PC. If you are after small and stylish devices with good battery life, simple interface and simple PIM apps, go with PalmOS. There is room for both, however..."
	Humans For Sale - How much are you worth? #Posted by Dreams on 09:45 If you could sell yourself, what would be a fair price? Not just your body for a night, that's cheap! :) Really sell yourself... let's bring back slavery and ask people to voluntarily sell themselves on the open market. Who'd be a top notch, quality human person? Who'd be next week clearance sale item? Wanna find out? Find out: Human For Sale: How much are you worth?
	New Debian-based Enterprise Linux? #Posted by Dreams on 08:38 eWeek reports that "sources close to Mandriva, Progeny and Turbolinux say the trio of companies will be announcing a new enterprise Linux distribution based on Debian Linux at the LinuxWorld event in San Francisco in August. This new enterprise distribution, which may include other companies as well, will be built on the foundation of the Debian 3.1 "Sarge" Linux distribution. That's good news because Debian is the best stable disto out there and used in many critical situations anyway, an enterprise support possibility would be a great added value! RedHat and SuSE: watch out!
	Stop global warming now! #Posted by Dreams on 08:26 Last month, a terrible flood swamped the Dutch islands and wiped away an entire village. We must act now think later...! ;)
	Saturday, July 9 Skype 1.1.0.20 for Linux #Posted by Dreams on 20:18 On tweakers.net I read that Skype updated their version for Linux. The new version 1.1.0.20 has mainly internal fixes.
	Friday, July 8 New PowerPCs: IBM lashes out to Apple #Posted by Dreams on 09:20 In an attempt to show them what they're missing, IBM unveiled new powerPCs yesterday. The new PowerPC 970 aka G5 operates at 1.2, 1.4 or 1.6 Ghz and only consumes 13-16 Watt. That's half of today's common Centrino CPU aka Pentium M! They also showed a dual core (all the rage lately) 970MP where one core can be switched off to save power. Cool! Ironically, PowerPC and Cell chips will be the core of the next generation game console of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo... Which sells better? A Mac or a game console? You do the math! :D
	Thursday, July 7 Pictures, photos and impressions #Posted by Dreams on 16:59 I finally got around to uploading a ton of pictures I had laying around my harddisk. Shame on me, I know, but I really couldn't find the time and at night I was too tired. Poor me, I know. :) Anyway, I've uploaded the pictures from Elise's birthday. You can see the great gift Sjoerd gave her! (y) Excellent choice! I also have the pictures of the "Nacht van de TT" in Assen. Petra and I went to Assen the night before the TT to join in the celebration, go to the carnaval, get drunk and just stare at the thousands of funny, drunken people (mainly foreigners, of course!) ;) I still have to sort through the pictures of the TT itself. I have to really make a selection among them to find just the best pictures. And then I uploaded my pictures of Sensation White, last weekend. Martin, thanks for the ticket! Jeroen and Liedewij, good to have you back again! Femke, thanks for a great night!Dreams Unlimited? - Christian Peper's web site, blog and home page
	pictures are worth a thousand words #Posted by Dreams on 14:33 ROFL Check it out: Binary Revolution Gallery - humor/end life. It's clever but fake, but a brilliant thought! :D If you like more, go to worth1000.com. There are geniuses out there!
	Black & White photography #Posted by Dreams on 11:41 My friend Werner updated his site: postproductie. He uses the open source CMS Mambo and switched theme, but the result is impressive! Much better suited for what he does: black and white photography. He should really also take Petra's course at the "Fotoacademie" in Amsterdam, but for some reason he's too shy. ;) You can tell he has talent tough...
	Supernatural Festival Funky Musique #Posted by Dreams on 09:04 Oh MAN! End of July (July 30th), there is a Supernatural festival in Utrecht. It's jazzy, funky and groovy house music. Really cool! Can't stand stil, I promise you! This year, WickedJazzSounds are also playing at the festival. If you've never heard them, shame on you! Check them out in the SugarFactory in Amsterdam regularly! The sad thing is, though, that I'll still be on vacation on that day and therefore must miss them. :'( Boohoo whine whine feeling very sorry for me
	Monday, July 4 Deep Impact: Your First Look Inside a Comet! #Posted by Dreams on 14:13 Deep Impact. Sounds like a movie but it's the name of a NASA project in which a small solid object rams into a comet (Temple 1). This the process ejects matter from the comet into space where a mothership will analyse it during fly-by. This will hopefully give us a better insight into the structure and material of comets as well as teach us a thing or two about our universe and what it is made up off.
	Photo's of SensationWhite #Posted by Dreams on 11:47 Saturday, Martin had a ticket left over for Sensation White. I already had some plans for early Sunday afternoon, but decided I could wing it. Sleep is for pussies! :D So I got my white gear and joined, Martin, Femke, Jeroen and Liedewij for a night of sensation trance... It took forever to get in. Checks for illegal tickets were outrageous! Grrr! Once we were inside, Laidback Luke got the party started. Sadly, the guys following him sucked big time! Fortunately, Armin van Buuren made it all alright and finally the night got underway... :bounce: MarcoV rocked the house and Jean delivered an outstanding finale! Partyflock has photo's!. Mine will follow a little later!
	Friday, July 1 Biometrics are scary #Posted by Dreams on 16:40 I guess you've heared that passwords are not secure. 4 digit PIN numbers are a matter of seconds to guess using the processor in mobile phones, even, let alone a P4 or better. So we've invented graphical passwords, hand signature recognition, iris scans, fingerprint and handprint scans and now also Vein Pattern Scans. :yawn: It seems most people forget you can cut out someone's eye, or cut off a finger, hand or other limb if you really wanted to get access to something... So Dreams' Rule #1: start using 11-digit random numbers as passwords! ;)
	Our Brains Don't Work Like Computers #Posted by Dreams on 16:28 It's official: Our Brains Don't Work Like Computers! Well Duuh! That figures! Otherwise, I'd rebooted long ago, installed more RAM, added secondary storage, RAID and NAS eons ago as well as upgrade to Google Dandrite Indexing last month! I mean, come on!