Ubuntu installed... what's next?

You've taken the bold step to install Ubuntu on your desktop. What's next? The LinuxonDesktop blog has a useful tutorial on what are the 13 things that you should do immediately after completing the Ubuntu installation. Certainly useful info to have to make Ubuntu functional for you.

BrikWars! - LEGO wargaming

This may be a bit old, but something as excellent as this is worth mentioning again. BrikWars is a wargaming system that uses the LEGO minifigs and bricks to play. On the site are rules and supplements that lets you have fun with your LEGO in a whole different way. Sweet bricks!

Making comic strips from photos with Comeeko

If you don't have Comic Life but you want to do some Dilbert-like comic fun with photos that you have, you can go to Comeeko to create your own strip. Fun way to display those photos.

LEGO Treo cradle

Gear Diary has posted picts of a Treo cradle made from LEGO bricks. The cradle holds a 680 and even a Bluetooth headset. There's even a minifig guardian protecting the gadget!

Escher's Relativity in Lego

Escher's Relativity in Lego by Andrew Lipson
Originally uploaded by idigit_teddy.

MC Escher's strange world reproduced in LEGO. How mind-blowing is this?

Gates vs. Jobs, Jedi style

The neverending war between Macs and PeeCees. This funny cartoon has a segment where the head honchos of both camps thrashing it out with the ultimate weapon of geeks - the lightsaber, was it the Zune-saber? Hilarious.

Search and play music on SeeqPod

Forget about downloading music. SeeqPod is a music service that lets you search for music online, then lets you add it to a playlist. You can also email the playlist to a friend. Seems like getting music from online sources is a tidal wave that can't be stop by people like RIAA. There seems to be new services coming up on a frequent basis that allows music lovers to get their music online.

Using Google for Getting Things Done

GTD, or Getting Things Done, is a pretty popular set of productivity philosophy to well, get things done. On the One Cranky Coot blog, the author shows us how he uses Google's set of apps to implement the GTD system. Interesting.

Backing up Blogger

One thing you learn when using computer stuff is that backups are essential. When you have a blog, you'd also want to do some backup to save all your memories. This site teaches you how to backup your blog that is on Blogger using the Firefox extension called DownThemAll. Backup before you regret.

New is not always better

New stuff is not always better. Somethings when you upgrade to new software, you realise that the old one is better and you can only sob, since the old version is taken offline. Well, kudos to these folks at Oldversion.com as they are devoted to archiving old software and you can download the old ones there. Another site that you can go to check out old software is File Hippo. This one gives you the new version, but also lets you grab the old ones.

My picts on Moleskinerie

Just a bit of self promotion here. The pictures that I took during my visit to the "My Favourite Moleskine" exhibition at Page One in Vivocity was featured on the Moleskinerie site. Not bad for pictures taken with a Treo.

Mac OS X lists, another one!

Lists and more lists. Give me your lists. This one is just another list of supposedly "essential" apps for the Mac OS. Some of the apps I use that are on this list include Adium (wonderful chat client), Cyberduck (free FTPing for me) and Quicksilver (powerful launcher that is more...).

Movie Ratings with details

The movie rating system with age ratings is under attack. The main grouse against it is that the age in the rating does not tell you much about the content of the film. This is where the website called Kids-in-Mind thinks that they can fill in the gap. Their rating system is based on a content analysis of the film and then a number (from 1 to 10) is given to three areas, namely Sex & Nudity, Violence & Gore, and Profanity. Parents can then make their own decision. Interesting idea and I suppose it only really works when parents are involve.

Making the most of Google Reader

Lifehacker has an excellent piece on how you can make the most of Google Reader with the use of keyboard shortcuts, and also other add-ons. Makes me really want to explore how using Google Reader will make me more productive.

Twitter + Quicksilver = Tweet

There is actually a script that allows you to send your Twitter messages using Quicksilver. Just follow the instructions on the website to get your Quicksilver + Twitter solution called Tweet working. Gotta try it out. Once again, it shows how amazing Quicksilver can be.

The Office parody

The Tech Lab - Part1
Uploaded by Filmguy9688

This is a parody of the US version of The Office by a group of kids in a high school. In fact, as mentioned on TV Squad the producers of The Office was so impressed that they invited the director and the cast to the set, and the director got himself an internship with the show.

7 deadly sins and more

We all know about the seven deadly sins of lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. But if you combine them, for example Greed and Wrath, you get Muggings. In fact, you can combine the 7 sins for a combination of 21 secondary sins. Why stop there? A reader on Boing Boing brought that further and suggested that by using binomial coefficient, you can get 127 sins. We are all going to hell?

This is not a photo-or is it?

Look closely at this picture. Think that it is a photo? Think again. Check on the linked site and you'll see how this person uses Adobe Photoshop and some other geeky stuff to make this picture. The step-by-step picts of the work in progress is charted on that site. Amazing and hats off to the person.

Update 1: After reading some of the comments at the blog, I'm starting to wonder if this is actually a fake. Maybe it is... hard to tell. Well, it just shows that with Photoshop, you can alter photos, and you can make people think that you've created a photo. Regardless, it's a nice picture... erm... photo.

Update 2: Seems like the original post that I linked to is really a fake. Well, the starting point of the picture is actually a photo. For the real deal on it, check out the CGArena piece on it called Making of Yuka. Thanks to all who pointed it out in the comments.

Web 2.0 explained in video

Sometimes, it's not easy to explain to a layperson what Web 2.0 is. In this video made by Michael Wesch, an Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University, it explains what Web 2.0 essentially is. It is about collaboration and user creation of content. Watch this 4-minutes plus video called "Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us" and you'll understand. It's an excellent piece of work.

Make large wall posters with Block Posters

To make a huge poster that you want to hang on your wall, check out Block Posters. You just need to upload your image, slice it, and then download and print the individual pieces. When you piece them back, you will get a gigantic picture. Neat and cheap, coz it's free! Oh, you just need to pay for your own papers and printer ink...

Debate online with Convince Me

Like some verbal thrust and parry? There is this site called Convince Me that lets you engage in debates online. It's pretty fun to read debates on various issues, from serious ones like Gay Marriage to trivial ones like Superman vs. Batman. Me? I personally like the ongoing debate on Ninjas vs. Pirates. Go read the arguments. It's fun.

Check Online Coupons before you buy

Before you make your next online purchase, you may just want to head to Coupon Chief to check out if there are any discount coupons or codes that you can use to help you save a bit of cash. The web site is a depositary of online coupons that you can use. It sorts by stores and categories to help you find what you want. Check and save.

Building a Home Media Server

For folks who love to get their hands dirty, building a home media server may be the best way to digitalise your media viewing experience. Ars Technica has a guide that recommends to you what you can consider when you want to build your own Home Media Server.

Guide to running Linux in Windows

This is useful for folks who wants to try out Linux on their Windows box on a more permanent basis. This guide runs you through the steps on how you can run your fave flavour of Linux using VMware. And I bet Linux does not have any of the licensing problems that Vista Home users face (as mentioned in my previous post).

No virtualisation for Vista Home

Vista is attracting a lot of attention, and not all of them are good. This one is about using the Home editions of Vista in a virtual environment like VMware or Parallels. In essence, if you want to run a virtual version of Vista on your Mac hardware with Parallels, and you do it with the Home versions of Vista, you'll be in violation of the End User Licensing Agreements. Sucks doesn't it? Of course, you can still go ahead and run it, but that will be illegal and someone may knock down your door and bring lock you up in prison for it.

All these licensing agreements stuff are such a hindrance to the adoption of tech.

Let it Bii

A mashup of the Beatles Let It Me album cover and avatars from Nintento Wii's Mii folks. What's not to like? You can buy this T-shirt on Nerdyshirts.com.

Launchy: Quicksilver for Windows

I'm using Quicksilver on my Mac and I know the joy of using keystrokes to launch my apps. Now Windows folks can also experience the joy with Launchy. This is an open source (meaning free) keystroke launcher. It's not as powerful as Quicksilver, but it is still in its early stages. For now, you can use different skins, and specify what directories to scan when you key in your searches. Maybe in the future it can do more like Quicksilver, like pasting text and more. Still a good start.

Pocoyo: Cute animation for pre-schoolers

I saw this animation for pre-schoolers called Pocoyo on YouTube. It is so saccharine cute! If I was a preschooler, it'll certainly be my fave TV show. Too bad that I'm an adult... You can read more about this on the official Pocoyo site.