Rami's ramblings on Technology

Text to Speech Online!

2008-02-10T09:45:00.000-05:00

Digital Inspiration put up a post showing off a new service called Vozme which allows you to paste in text and get an mp3. Its also great for bloggers who can add it to their posts for automated online text to speech!

Check the full article over at Digital Inspiration.

Mobile Friendly Blog with Google Reader

2008-02-06T10:59:00.000-05:00

Digital Inspiration ran an article about how to quickly get your blog mobile friendly using a neat trick with Google Reader. It so simple that anyone on any blogging platform can do it.

Just append the location of your RSS feed to this link: http://www.google.com/reader/m/view/feed/

Google Reader will then nicely reformat your RSS feed for a mobile client.

Check out some other neat tricks from Digital Inspiration.

High-End Ubuntu Laptops from Dell

2008-01-24T19:07:00.000-05:00

It seems that Dell has discovered that Ubuntu laptops are viable business ventures. Viable enough that they have started to sell High-End Ubuntu Laptops. Finally, we can see a super fast, slim and thin laptop running Ubuntu preinstalled! It also comes with a legal way of watching DVDs and Adoble Flash.

Check it here.

Important Tips for Ubuntu 7.10

2008-01-21T17:47:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of tips that have proven themselves. They all help you improve your Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon 7.10 OS, so be sure to check them out.

Five Tips for Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy

How to set-up Compiz-Fusion

Easy steps to install KDE 4.0

Ten Tips for KDE 4.0 Beginners

The Nintendo DS Tour Guide

2008-01-21T17:41:00.000-05:00

It seems that Disney has decided to use the Nintendo DS as a digital tour guide. It seems that the use of the Nintendo DS as a non-gaming tool seems to be skyrocketing. Already you can order pizza and surf the web using Opera. Now, the Nintentdo DS is being used as a virtual guide to everything in the Magic Kingdom!

Story over at Engadget.

KDE 4 Bring Reals Customization to the Desktop

2008-01-18T17:02:00.000-05:00

With the imminent release of KDE 4, it seems that Linux Desktops just get better and better. There doesn't seem to be any stopping those open source developers as they make prettier and prettier desktops.

What really shines in KDE 4 is Plasma. It allows you to put any type of widgets on your desktop, not just RSS readers and small, useless apps. It, literally, brings desktop customization to a whole new level, beyond Apple Leopard and Windows Vista.

LifeHacker is running an article that shows you some of the customizations you can do with KDE4. Read it here.

I can't wait to see this in the next Kubuntu release!

Everex will come out with a DevBook?

2008-01-17T08:59:00.000-05:00

Everex is apparently planning to come out with a killer 9-inch CloudBook. As well as a DevBook aimed squarely at developers. I don't know what is going on but a DevBook??? Huh??? If there is one thing that a developer hates, its a small screen and a slow compiler. So I don't know how this DevBook will compete.

Check out here.

.Net Framework Library Source Code Released!

2008-01-17T08:50:00.000-05:00

Microsoft today released the source code to the entire .Net Framework. This is very interesting because it allows you to debug deep inside .Net applications. I don't know if this is Microsoft's latest attempt at becoming open soure, but either way it beats Sun's attempt at open sourcing Java. I am also curious about the effect that this will have on Mono, because System.Windows.Forms was also released. I really hope that we will see the .Net library go cross-platform and that .Net will become a better framework than it already is. Any more information, especially from Mono, is appreciated!

Link here.

UPDATE: It appears that Microsoft did not release .NET under an open source license but a Reference License which pretty much means you can look but you can't touch.

An overview of the Quake 3 AI Bot library.

2008-01-16T09:59:00.000-05:00

Alex from aigamedev.com has kindly analyzed the AI Bot Library of Quake 3 that powers your computer opponents.

A great analysis with much details. Make sure to check out the comments on the bottom.

Read it here.

Eee PC from Acer?

2008-01-16T09:56:00.000-05:00

Engadget is reporting that Acer is prepping a laptop to compete with the terrifyingly small Eee PC. This is all great news because it means that there will be an increase in small and thin laptops and thats all that matters!

Read the original news here.

Apple Unveils At MacWorld!

2008-01-16T09:14:00.000-05:00

Apple at the MacWorld Expo released a whole array of great new products. Here is a resume:

Apple released a laptop and desktop companion. Time Capsule is an automated wireless backup solution to which any of your computers can remotely back up to, if only they had something like that for Windows or Linux.

Brand new software for the iPhone as well as a port of some iPhone apps to the iPod touch for a fee. That's right... no mail on your iPod unless you give up 20 bucks.

iTunes Movie Rentals... I still watch movies on my TV, so I might be a little behind here.

Apple TV Take 2, because Apple refuses to give up.

And finally, the only product that makes anyone care:

The newly announced MacBook Air is a ultra thin and ultra light laptop! With a 13.3 inch screen, full sized keyboard, iSight, wireless, everything you would expect in an Apple laptop EXCEPT for a DVD/CD drive, all fits in a 0.76 inch space. Now thats what I call a thin laptop. It is Thintastic actually!

Full details at AppleInsider.

Too much coverage at Engadget.

MapZone 2.6 Released Free!

2008-01-16T09:08:00.000-05:00

It seems that Allegrorithmic has followed what it previously did which was to release MapZone 2.5 for free! This is great because in my opinion MapZone is the most advanced texturing tool available to game developers. Its is great that Allegrorithmic is continually making newer versions available for free to indie developers who should be able to take advantage of the same tools as the pros. Even if you aren't a game developer this makes great image editing software because of its nodes style of editing.

Get it here.

Free Direct YouTube to iPod

2008-01-15T08:51:00.000-05:00

Here is a simple way to directly download movies from YouTube onto your iPod using a new software called Tooble. Previously, it was extremely difficult to get videos of YouTube but now many different software have been released that simplify the process. RealPlayer Beta also provides methods of downloading web videos in Firefox and Internet Explorer. Tooble is a dedicated YouTube to iPod conversion process. Currently, it is Mac only but a Windows version is coming soon.

Get it here.

How-To secure your wireless network.

2008-01-15T08:44:00.001-05:00

Extremetech.com has written a great article about securing your wireless network. The article is generic enough that you can apply what it written to many different brand of routers. It explains some of the encryption methods like WEP, WPA, WPA2 and more, as well as protecting your network shares and updating your router firmware.

Get it here.

Hummer makes the Warthog (Halo) REAL!

2008-01-14T19:44:00.000-05:00

It looks like Hummer designers play a little bit of Halo because their latest Hummer concept looks oddly like a disconfigured Warthog from the futuristic first person shooter. Apparently, they claim their design is based on modern ATVs, questionable when they also admit to playing Halo. It seems the subconscious is at fault here.
Either way, I am sure a bunch of fan boys out there are jumping in joy with their wallets out already. Personally, I will save my money for a Hornet (VTOL from Halo 3).

Direct from Engadget.

SimCity Source Code Released!

2008-01-14T16:50:00.000-05:00

The legendary game, SimCity, that spawned all those "Sim" games had its source code released to the masses under a GPL 3 license. SimCity is now effectively open source. This widely successful game which has been ported to numerous platform, even the OLPC, is now easily available for download. It has been renamed Micropolis to protect EA's Sim franchise but the code is largely original.

Direct from The Escapist.

Mobile Blogging from Windows Mobile 5/6

2008-01-13T18:03:00.001-05:00

Nothing feels better than blogging right when the action takes place. This is now possile thanks to the advances in mobile phone technology. If you are equipped with a Windows Mobile phone than you are in prime condition to start some intense mobile blogging.

There exists many programs for Windows Mobile 5/6 that allow you to blog to many different blog sites independently. I even suspect that Microsoft might release some simple port of their Windows Live Writer software for Windows Mobile.

There are many ways you can blog from a Windows Mobile 5/6 device. I will highlight my personal favorite which is the free moBlog blogging software. It works on Windows Mobile Standard as well as Professional. What I like about it is its photoblogging capabilities and that it can work offline when you aren't connected to a data network or Wifi. It is also very well optimized for phones in that it won't store a copy after you have uploaded it.

Currently moBlog supports Blogger, Wordpess and Live Space with support for MovableType/TypePad coming soon. It needs .Net2.0 to work (comes preinstalled on Windows Mobile 6).

In fact, this entire blog was written on moBlog!

Posted from moBlog – mobile blogging tool for Windows Mobile

Tip: Set Up Google Reader with Firefox

2008-01-13T15:01:00.001-05:00

How To Set Up Google Reader with Firefox

Google Reader is a relatively new RSS Reader. It is a beta product from Google but it is relatively stable and I have never had trouble with it. I am pretty fond of it, although there might be better services out there. In essence, it provides you with an online interface for viewing the RSS feeds of all your favorite sites.

1. Get your Google Account
The first step is to get a Google account. If you use Gmail or Blogger than you already have a Google account and no further step is needed.

2. Set up Google Reader to work with Firefox
This step contains the main meat of this tip. What it essentially allows you to do is tell Firefox to automatically add an RSS feed to google. A website that contains an RSS feed provokes Firefox to display an orange box next to the go button on the Address Bar. With this option, you can simply press the orange box and a page asking where on Google would you like to put this RSS feed (in Google Reader or iGoogle).
To do this simply go to the Tools menu and select the Options entry. This should open up a dialog called Options. Press on the Feeds Tab, it shows the same orange box you pressed before, select the radio button "Subscribe to feed using:" and select Google.

There you go, a quick tip to automatically add an RSS feed to google reader using Firefox! No more excuses for not using RSS!

Welcome to my blog!

2008-01-13T14:30:00.000-05:00

This is my first post and I would simply like to welcome YOU! In this blog, you will be exposed to my ramblings on technology, the modern world and programming. You will find my comments and thoughts on emerging technologies. Quick and easy programming snippets for a variety of tasks. How-To's and tutorials on getting things done the easy and free way. Reviews and articles on software, specially open source software. A regurgitation of news from the many, repeat many here, sites that I read. I aim to give you only quality and often. I hope you will enjoy your time!