Obi202 not ringing for incoming calls

I recently bought an Obi202 VOIP phone adapter so that I could receive calls on my Google Voice number on my land line phone. (Will post a review soon – but for now just know that I am amazed by this product. Love it).

Anyways, the device was working fine until this morning after which phone calls to my Google Voice number were not ringing on my land-line phone. After a lot of trouble shooting what I found out is that to received calls via the Obi VOPI adapter, you need to enable Google Chat as a forwarding phone. You do this by logging into Google Voice and click on the gear icon (upper right) and then choose “Settings”. Under the “Phone” tab, make sure “Google Chat” is checked.

Space Shuttle Launch Countdown (T minus 6 hours and counting)

Reinstalling OS on a Dell Laptop

Here is a page that I came across on Dell’s website that goes into the proper order of driver installation when you are attempting a fresh OS install.

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/downloads/en/driver_install_order?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~lt=print

Useful if you need to reset your laptop.

Are we in the era of Dot Com Bubble 2.0?

Came across this excellent presentation by Steve Blank (shown at the SxSW 2011 conference)

Sxsw New Rules for the New Bubble 031211

This blog post by Steve Blank provides more background on the deck above: http://steveblank.com/2011/03/18/new-rules-for-the-new-bubble/

An interesting quote by the author:

2001 – 2010 – The Era of the Lean Startup:
- Customer Development, Agile Engineering and the Lean methodology enforced a process of incremental and iterative development. Startups could now get a first version of a product out to customers in weeks/months rather than months/years

Startups began to recognize that they weren’t merely a smaller version of a large company. Rather they understood that a startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.

USB memory stick that works with XBox 360

I was looking for a USB drive that would work as additional storage with my Xbox 360. Unfortunately, there is no information regarding the minimum performance requirements of a USB drive that will allow it to pass the tests that Xbox performs.

So after much searching, I found the perfect way of finding a list of drives that will work with the XBOX – Amazon’s user review. Though this was not easy, as I could not find a way to search reviews of only products in a given category. So here are some that I found:

Kingston Traveller USB drive on Amazon.com which seems to work with the Xbox 360 to provide additional storage. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002ZBQ76S. (Currently available for $20 for a 16gb model). (Amazon.com reviews by customers who used it with their Xbox)

Another USB drive that Amazon customers have been having success using it with their XBox’s is the Lexar JumpDrive (Reviews by customers using it with their Xbox’s).

Finally, there is the Xbox branded Sandisk drive (which costs approx $45 and is the most expensive).

Note: The maximum supported memory stick size is 16gb. Although you can attach upto 2 to get 32gb of extra memory.

Other drives:

Patriot Xporter (xbox user reviews)

Kingston DataTraveller (xbox user reviews)

More Info:

USB Storage Device Support for Xbox 360 (xbox.com)

802.11 a/b/g connection considerations

Based on the XBox 360 network tuner wizard here are some things to know:

802.11a or higher has the least amount of wireless interference. (802.11a is better and can be considered as coming after 802.11b – although both were created at the same time).

802.11b does not support many of the features required by Windows Media Center (802.11b is an early extension to 802.11 standard and is not as good a technology as 802.11a)

802.11g may produce choppy or slowed TV and video (this standard incorporates the best of 802.11 a and b standards)

802.11n is the newest of the standards and consequently considered as the best of the technologies.

More Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11

The mechas are here! (Wearable robot suit)

Is it a mecha or is it a powered exo-skeleton? Who cares! this is just plain cool!

A wearable robot suit that has been developed by Raytheon. Amazing!

 

Mechas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecha

Powered exoskeleton: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powered_armor

Where Good Ideas Come From

An animated version of a talk given by Steven Johnson “Where good ideas come from”

BloomBox from BloomEnergy–A solid state energy server

 

An interesting piece that I watched this weekend on BloomEnergy and their invention the BloomBox – a solid state energy server, that allows for electricity generation on premises.

More:

http://www.bloomenergy.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom_Energy_Server

Microsoft Biology Foundation

via http://mbf.codeplex.com/:

The Microsoft Biology Foundation (MBF) is a language-neutral bioinformatics toolkit built as an extension to the Microsoft .NET Framework, initially aimed at the area of Genomics research. Currently, it implements a range of parsers for common bioinformatics file formats; a range of algorithms for manipulating DNA, RNA, and protein sequences; and a set of connectors to biological web services such as NCBI BLAST. MBF is available under an open source license, and executables, source code, demo applications, and documentation are freely downloadable.
The source code and development of MBF is managed on this CodePlex site, but all downloads are hosted on the Microsoft Research site here:http://research.microsoft.com/bio/.

via http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/bio/:

Tools available:

• Microsoft Biology Foundation
• The Microsoft Biology Foundation (MBF) is a language-neutral bioinformatics tool kit built as an extension to the Microsoft .NET Framework. It implements a range of parsers for common bioinformatics file formats; a range of algorithms for manipulating DNA, RNA, and protein sequences; and a set of connectors to biological web services such as the U.S. National Center for Biotechnology Information’s Basic Local Alignment Search Tool. MBF is available under an open-source license, and executables, source code, demo applications, and documentation are freely downloadable.
• ShoRuntime for MBF
• a library that delivers advanced math and graphing capabilities on the .NET platform
• Microsoft Biology Tools
• Microsoft Research Biology Extension for Excel
• Add-in that provides a simple, flexible way to work with genomic sequences, metadata, and interval data in an Excel workbook by exposing the features and functions of the Microsoft Biology Foundation.
• Microsoft Research Sequence Assembler
• Sequence Assembler is a proof-of-concept-application that demonstrates the use of the Microsoft Biology Foundation, the .NET Framework, the Windows Presentation Foundation, and Microsoft Silverlight for bioinformatics research. The MBF Sequence Assembler uses rich user interface elements to enable the visualization and manipulation of genomic data.

Xconomy - Microsoft Builds Open-Source Tool for Biologists Drowning in Data, an ‘On-Ramp’ for Customers Who Pay

Video tutorial given at the Microsoft eScience Workshop in 2009 at Carnegie-Mellon University: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/events/escience2009/17961/lecture.htm. This tutorial is based on an early version of the code, but gives a good introduction and high-level overveiw of the architecture.

Ten tech-enabled business trends to watch

via McKinsey Quaterly.com

• Trend 1: Distributed cocreation moves into the mainstream
• Trend 2: Making the network the organization
• Trend 3: Collaboration at scale
• Trend 4: The growing ‘Internet of Things’
• Trend 5: Experimentation and big data
• Trend 6: Wiring for a sustainable world
• Trend 7: Imagining anything as a service
• Trend 8: The age of the multisided business model
• Trend 9: Innovating from the bottom of the pyramid
• Trend 10: Producing public good on the grid

Read more at: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/High_Tech/Strategy_Analysis/Clouds_big_data_and_smart_assets_Ten_tech-enabled_business_trends_to_watch_2647?gp=1

Space shuttle – from preparation to launch – time lapse

Very cool time lapse video of the Space Shuttle, from preparation to launch

http://www.airspacemag.com/multimedia/videos/Go-For-Launch.html

The World’s Largest Data Centers

via: http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/special-report-the-worlds-largest-data-centers/

• 10. The SuperNAP, Las Vegas (Switch Communications)
• 9A and 9B. Microsoft Data Centers in Quincy Washington and San Antonio
• 8. CH1, Elk Grove Village, Ill. (DuPont Fabros)
• 7. Phoenix ONE, Phoenix (i/o Data Centers)
• 6. Microsoft Dublin (Microsoft)
• 5. Container Data Center, Chicago (Microsoft)
• 4. NGD Europe, Newport Wales (Next Generation Data)
• 3. The NAP of the Americas, Miami (Terremark)
• 2. Metro Technology Center, Atlanta (Quality Technology)
• 1. 350 East Cermak / Lakeside Technology Center (Digital Realty)

Interesting that Google’s data centers do not appear on this list, even though when I think of massive container style data-centers, the first name that pops to my head is Google.

On the worthy contenders list, here is what they have to say:

Where is Google? Many readers may have expected to see some Google data centers on the list. But Google’s new construction has focused on data center campuses featuring multiple facilities, rather than single huge buildings. As a result, Google has multiple data center buildings larger than 300,000 feet, but none (that we can find, anyway) larger than the 400,000 SF entry point for our list. For more on Google’s data centers, see our Google Data Center FAQ.

The cloud is here and it is here to stay!

Sikuli Script – Automate anything using screenshots

An MIT project using Jython (Python for Java VM), provides computer automation by looking for screen elements that you capture just like a screen-shot.

Download the tool at: http://groups.csail.mit.edu/uid/sikuli/

What's SIKULI?

Sikuli is a visual technology to search and automate graphical user interfaces (GUI) using images (screenshots). The first release of Sikuli contains Sikuli Script, a visual scripting API for Jython, and Sikuli IDE, an integrated development environment for writing visual scripts with screenshots easily. Sikuli Script automates anything you see on the screen without internal API's support. You can programmatically control a web page, a desktop application running on Windows/Linux/Mac OS X, or even an iphone application running in an emulator.

How to: hack a WEP network

using BackTrack

Vizio TV Remote Code for Samsung BDP 1590/1600 Blue Ray Player

The manual does not list a code for the Samsung BDP 1590/1600s remote so that it can control a Vizio TV. I found that the LG TV code worked for me:

Press and Hold the TV power button on the Samsung Remote. Press 1,9 (code 19). Release the power button. Your TV should shut off (or turn on based on whether it was on or off before you started this process). This means that you found the right code for your TV.

Only downside: the TV source button did not work for me. Yet, this is better than lugging around 2 remotes to watch a movie.

Next: Looking for the remote code to control the BlueRay player using my Comcast DVR remote. (any ideas any one?)

Traffic Lights – Innovations – Count-down timer

What an innovative idea, a count down timer built into a traffic light. The design is by “YankoDesign”.

Read more at - http://www.yankodesign.com/2009/11/30/a-better-understanding-of-stoplights/

URI vs URL – whats the difference?

First off – URL is deprecated terminology. You are better of using URI where ever you used to use URL.

Here is why:
URI – Uniform Resource Identifier
URL – Uniform Resource Locator
*notice: its not universal as many end up calling it – it is uniform.

The URI allows for the identification of resources using the identifier. The following are all examples of URIs:
ftp://ftp.sample.com/samplefiles/readme.txt
http://www.sample.com/samplefiles/readme.html
http://www.sample.com/samplefiles/readme.txt
https://www.sample.com/samplefiles/readme.html
mailto:jane.doe@sample.com

Even the scheme “tel:+1-800-800-8000” is considered a URI. In the early days (!), a URI was either a URN or a URL (i.e, the URI either referred to the the name without the location or the location of a resource). The term URL is now considered to be a URI that identifies a resource via its access mechanism (http, ftp, etc). Here the http, ftp, etc in the URL address are known as URI schemes (and define the syntax that is legal in the URI). So just remember, basically the URL is a subset of URI. (i.e., all URLs are URIs).

So, instead of worrying about the difference, just use the TLA URI instead of URL from now on.

reference:
Uniform Resource Identifier: Generic Syntax: http://labs.apache.org/webarch/uri/rfc/rfc3986.html
Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs), URLs, and Uniform Resource Names(URNs): Clarifications and Recommendations: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3305.txt

Video Games – Real Time Racing

Real Time Racing is developing technology that will allow for video games that will allow you to race in real-time against actual race car drivers that are competing in an actual race. The technology is very cool and it uses LIDAR to generate maps of the race-tracks (which is how I came across the game).

Its was recently show-cased on the BBC’s Click program.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/8334595.stm

Real Time Racing

How things work - Shaazam

I always wondered how Shaazam worked (the app that automagically identifies songs). And today, I came across this document by one of the Shaazam creators that explains how it works:
http://www.ee.columbia.edu/~dpwe/papers/Wang03-shazam.pdf

The basic idea is that it uses a songs spectrogram (a graph of time on the x axis, frequency on the y axis) to generate a signature for each song. Samples uploaded from phones are converted to a spectrogram and compared against a database of pre-generated spectrograms to figure out information about the songs.