Taking a moment to check out Konqueror

Here at Allegheny College, the Linux/Fedora computer labs in the Computer Science department have, at the moment, two browsers: the obvious Firefox and the lesser known Konqueror.

Konqueror? What is that?

Konqueror is an Open Source browser for the Linux platform. Actually, I take that back, it is more than simply a web browser; Konqueror can read files on its browser (like PDFs, Word Documents, heck I've even viewed Java code on it). It also acts as a file manager, depending how you set it up, it can organize even the largest filesystems. If you run Linux, I highly recommend Konqueror.

...Though I'm still a huge Firefox/Thunderbird guy.

(For Linux environment only...KDE required)

MIT OpenCourseWare

Recently, while attending my collegiate level classes, something came up that provided me with great interest: MIT OpenCourseWare. For those who have always wanted to see what class material is like at MIT, this is perfect for you. They outline the course in a pretty detailed manner. Not only that, they also upload the lecture notes as well as the homework or in-class assignments for each class (I am currently looking at the Computer Science intro class, they focus on Python...awesome). Pretty cool stuff, so if you ever want to learn about a topic in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or even Literature, check out MIT OpenCourseWare, you won't regret it!

Stumbled Upon This....

This is just a personal thing for future reference, people where I work always want to know how to convert PDF files to word, well here's the site to do it at...Enjoy!

http://convertpdftoword.net/

WideScreen YouTube!

From TechCrunch

YouTube has apparently changed all videos on its site to play in widescreen format. Because most videos on the site were originally uploaded in a ratio closer to 4:3 (the standard size used on non-HD televisions), it seems that most videos are playing with horizontal black bars on the side.

It seems that Google is either doing A/B testing or that the changes haven’t propogated to all servers (if that’s even possible) - hard refreshing on videos seems to alternate between the standard video player and the widescreen one.

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Nice!

Check it out here

Just a humorous little comic....

Koornk - A Simple Twitter

Awhile ago I discovered a pretty cool service known as Koornk. Koornk is pretty much like Twitter, but it has a cleaner interface, less users, and is not that well known. Personally, I like Koornk, almost better than Twitter, but alas the popularity of Koornk isn't quite there yet. One thing that I love about Twitter is the ability to text your updates from your mobile phone (as a participant of unlimited texting, this is most useful). Koornk does however, allow you to post on Koornk and have it send it over to Twitter. It seems as if it is powered by JavaScript, but I'm not sure on that (someone let me know if you find out). This Twitter-lookalike also has a user suggestion board, hinting that both text messaging service and direct message and IM is coming! If IM hits Koornk, goodbye Twitter!

But what is with the name Koornk? Well apparently it was created by a group of Slovenians and in their words:

The name “koornk” comes from Slovenian language and is a geeky way to write the word meaning henhouse – where the chickens just can’t shut their peepholes.

You can get the full story on Koornk's website.

Nifty Little Color Tool

A lot of the time, when creating a website, one finds that they cannot think of a clever enough color scheme. Though the word "clever" doesn't apply in this fashion, nonetheless it is still difficult to come up with a unique look that is not already popular. It is clear Microsoft has taken the soft Blues, Reds ,and Yellows and Apple has taken the slick glossy/brushed-metal coloring. This little tool from WellStyled allows you to pick the main color you want to have, then complements it with a variety of other possible color combos. Pretty nifty really. Check it here.

Oh yeah, new look....

Hey everyone, just a quick update here, we've moved to Blogger, instead of Wordpress! Wordpress was too limited and we needed some more space, so we've moved here instead. You can still access the old site at theweeklytech.wordpress.com!

Thanks for the continued support!

Don't like Emacs or Vi? Try Out Programmer's Notepad

Though I never have actually programmed in Windows, spare maybe some HTML, I found this little program on the web called Programmer's Notepad. Now I am positive that all of you programmers at one point or another have used Notepad for editing little things (if you forgot something, etc) and have quickly opened the code with notepad and fixed it up. Though it does not have a built-in hex editor, some features include:

• Syntax highlighting for many languages through “schemes”.
• Tabbed MDI interface
• Text Clips
• Unlimited number of schemes supported, powerful syntax
  highlighting supporting both user-defined and built-in schemes
• User-defined schemes (XML)
• Word-wrapping

Overall a pretty cool little tool that is free and easy to use. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Twitter Expanding Horizons; well in Japan anyway.

Now, I'm not positive as to what this will trickle down to in terms of Twitter everywhere else, but today they released a site called Twicco which allows a Twitter user to follow (or create) a Twitter group, rather than just a single user/person. Although Twitter Japan is already different using ads, hopefully the group option comes to the universal site, and not the ugly advertising.
The benefits of following a group are seemingly cool, and have quite a lot of potential. Even though Yammer is for businesses, Twitter could replace this, using the group feature to implement tweets for each department of work. Also, gamers could follow a group of updates that they choose to: for example if I like EA's NHL09 and FIFA09. EA could create a group for Twitter that would allow you to effectively "choose" what part of the group you would want to follow. Also, one could group people into "people I know" and "creepers on Twitter who somehow got my name." I would use those groups...no really.

Need Something Defined? Check Out MetaGlossary.

A very definitive source of info.


Though still in the beta stage, MetaGlossary is a pretty great tool. As the title suggests, MetaGlossary defines pretty much anything you can think of (my first submission was "life"), it gave me almost every definition possible. Pretty impressive. It is kind of like Google, except it actually gives you results right there from the metadata of various sites; speaking of Google, this is something they should look into or even buy! There's even a FireFox plugin for it, so go check it out! Nothing like an advanced Web 2.0 dictionary to whet the virtual appetite.

This is Real and Not for Play...

Congratulations Senator-- President Obama.

If you're happy and you know it...

Phong.com - Useful Photoshop Tutorials.

While surfing the web via StumbleUpon, I "stumbled" across this little website called Phong.com. While the name isn't quite to my personal liking, its tutorials are quite detailed and right on the mark. Its great because I am not that skilled at Photoshop (I can do some stuff, but not without direction), but with Phong, I don't have to be! Flash tutorials are also offered on Phong, and while I am not a big fan of Flash, some people do know how to use it in the right context! With the rise of AJAX, it gets harder and harder to tolerate Flash, but until that time, check out Phong.com for cool PS tutorials!

..and with the release of Adobe Photoshop CS4, what better way to celebrate than to use your (purchased) edition of CS4 and make some sweet graphics!