TechieFerret

Sun to build the biggest app store…

david — Tue, 26 May 2009 23:10:01 +0000

Sun believe they will get around 1 billion users to their new Java App Store (currently named vector)… I guess everyone is getting into the “app store” mode, started of course (well from a famous perspective) by Apple – i.e. iTunes/iPhone App Store.

Nokia are releasing their own app store too… so this is what the future of mobile computing looks like?

Have a read of the full article here

Do you need to send a fax.. try this free service

david — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:48:22 +0000

With myfax you can send up to 2 faxes free per day which can be up to 9 pages long… you do not have to sign up, and it supports more than 170 file formats. Obviously if you want to send something like a physical page, you will need to scan that in – bare in mind I have a cheap Brother DCP-145 printer/scanner and it cost less than $60 au !

The total size limit per fax is 10mb.. but in reality this is huge, and especially if you simply need to send a quick fax.

You can send to over 40 countries, including Australia, US, most of Europe and Asia.

So click here to get started if you want to fax

Going into the 5 dimensional world of DVD recording..

david — Sat, 23 May 2009 20:08:18 +0000

There are some amazing technology leaps happening… and as is generally the case, it is hard to understand at most times! The following article explains a little about some new research done into the storage capabilities of DVD/Optical discs.

At present, the DVD writers/burners etc we know use a 3 dimensional spatial method of writing information, but that may change..

Using nanotechnology, scientists have started to play with 5 dimensional spatial discs… a very interesting read.

You can read the full article here

More interesting news about batteries

david — Sat, 23 May 2009 20:01:57 +0000

On a roll for battery evolution now.. this is again an interesting post that can radically improve the storage of power in lithium based batteries.

The Canadian research team of done some interesting work with Carbon Nano Rods.. absolutely amazing, considering the size and arena that these guys are working with.

You can read the article in full here

Incredible breathing battery

david — Sat, 23 May 2009 19:42:34 +0000

An interesting article to start the day. Research into Zinc Air Batteries seems to have some interesting aspects – including the storage rate which is 10 times more than of the standard Lithium batteries we know today.

I originally saw this post on KurzweilAI.net, and you can link to read more about this story here

India Adds 15.6 Million Mobile Phone Users in a Single Month

david — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 05:02:12 +0000

Crazy but true (so I am told!).. quite amazing though, and given the rate of mobile growth, no wonder many social networks and internet companies in general are making all efforts to ensure the mobile market is covered.

So long for tradditional desktop browser development?

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2009/04/india_adds_156_million_mobile_phone_users_in_ema_single_monthem-2.htm

Technology Review: Netbook Chips Create a Low-Power Cloud

david — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:51:32 +0000

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/22504/?a=f

Handy: Remove duplicated Records in SQL

david — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 04:16:22 +0000

Basic? maybe.. but a handy script in T-SQL to remove duplicated records.

(I’m just using an example "jobs" table.. change this to yours, otherwise the other tables are simply
temp tables for the purpose of storing duplications etc)

/* First get a count of duplicates */
select jobno, count(jobno) as numdups from jobs
group by jobno having (count(jobno) >1)

/* Get the duplicated keys */
select jobno, count(jobno) as numdups
into holdkey
from jobs
group by jobno
having count(jobno) > 1

/* Get just one each of the duplicated records */
select distinct jobs.*
into holddups
from jobs, holdkey
where jobs.jobno = holdkey.jobno

/* Now delete the orginal duplicated table */
delete jobs
from jobs, holdkey
where jobs.jobno = holdkey.jobno

/* Copy back the distinct single records without
any duplications */
insert jobs select * from holddups

You can of course at each stage query the tables to check what is going on.

Mega Tools Pack - FREE Software for all of your major needs…

david — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 01:22:29 +0000

Free…
So is there such a thing as a free lunch? well not really.. my experience is that you pay at some point.. however, given the vast array of free software and services out there, I thought I would share some that I use on a day to day basis.

To put this in context, I need sound software for editing wave files and recordings, sound converters to convert say MP3 to WMA or whatever. I also need video converters and editors as well as some business related apps like FTP and Invoicing. I will be providing some online services in a later post, as the following are all software apps (mostly for Windows, although some for MAC’s too)…

Sound Software

http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/masters.html
This software allows you to record and edit wave files (and other formats). You can add effects, cut/paste sections and export out to several formats.

http://www.nch.com.au/playpad/index.html
If you just need a basic sound/audio player which is lightweight, this is for you.

http://www.nch.com.au/mixpad/index.html
If you need a full sound mixer, then this application will provide a good base for editing/mixing multi-track audio.

http://www.nch.com.au/dj/index.html
For something a little more specific, this application allows you to DJ mix audio tracks, again with several effects and outputs and tricks.

Video Software

http://www.nchsoftware.com/capture/index.html
If you need to record/edit from say the screen/webcam or other video input, then this application will provide all the tools you need. You can use this to produce instructional videos as well as a mashup of existing video material.

http://www.nchsoftware.com/prism/index.html
If you need to convert video files from one format to another…

http://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/index.html
Similar to Microsoft’s movie maker, this application allows you to edit/modify video movies with titles and effects. Very simple to use.

Business / Productivity Software

There is so much available, just go to http://www.nchsoftware.com/software/business.html#1
For instance, I am using the EXPRESS INVOICE application, and the VOIP Express Talk application.
There is also FTP software too http://www.nchsoftware.com/ftp/index.html
I am using the CLASSIC FTP client which seems to work well

Most of the software above is donation based which is a cool principle.

I will post more soon!

Windows 7 Virtual PC

david — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:35:14 +0000

I decided, although I know you can partition say XP or Vista, to try Windows 7 the safe way.. using the FREE Microsoft Virtual PC. I downloaded Windows 7 from MSDN, and configured a 25gb Virtual Machine with (currently) 512mb RAM.

It has installed successfully – a little slow of course with 512mb RAM, although that is because the machine I was testing it on has only 1gb.. I will be running this from my Laptop which has more memory (in an ‘off’ state, you can of course change the amount of memory).

Anyway, I will test a bit more, but again it seems to be working fine… If anyone wants the Virtual PC Image, then please leave a comment and I will maybe organise an upload.. not sure of the legal state there – however it does seem that Win 7 beta is free to download for anyone at this stage.. all I have done is save installing on a physical machine…

More to come soon!