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Short range wireless transfers at 15 Gigabits per second

Forget about USB and Firewire with its cables. Georgia Tech is promising very high speed wireless peer-to-peer data transfers in a couple of years:

The research focuses on RF frequencies around 60 gigahertz (GHz), which are currently unlicensed—free for anyone to use—in the United States. GEDC researchers have already achieved wireless data-transfer rates of 15 gigabits per second (Gbps) at a distance of 1 meter, 10 Gbps at 2 meters and 5 Gbps at 5 meters.

I use Bluetooth for connecting to the internet via my mobile, synchronizing my PDA etc but Bluetooth is too slow for devices requiring high data transfer rates like hard disks, video cameras, streaming etc. Transfer rates of 15 Gbps means that it can replace cable in most cases.

I thought it would be outright dangerous to be close to a something transferring data via radio at 15Gbps but it looks like I am wrong:

Even when sitting on a user’s desk, Pinel stresses, a multi-gigabit wireless system would present no health concerns. For one thing, the transmitted power is extremely low, in the vicinity of 10 milliwatts or less. For another, the 60 GHz frequency is stopped by human skin and cannot penetrate the body.

Via Dr. Dobb's

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Take control of your windows with WinSplit and GridMove

WinSplit Revolution is a very simple to use window organizer. You can use Ctrl+Alt+(numpad) to move the selected window to the specified quadrant on the screen or use a handy little popup window if you prefer to use the mouse.
  

WinSplit also has several other functions:

• Mosaic Ctrl+Alt+m : evaluates the best arrangement to show several windows at the same time.
  
• Close All Ctrl+Alt+c : close all open windows.
  
• Fusion Ctrl+Alt+f : WinSplit splits the screen in two with the last two active windows. By default each windows takes half of the screen but a window appears with a slider to change the ratio between the both windows.
  
• Save the window position for a process so the application always opens at a certain place on the screen.

GridMove
I found GridMove less intuitive to use initially but it is great when you get used to it. GridMove works using a set of pre-defined grid templates that you can use or edit. The default template works like this image shows

There are several ways of organizing the windows:

• Left button drag: click close to the upper left hand corner of the window and drag to a grid
  
• Middle button drag: this is the simplest option as you just click the title bar with the middle mouse button and drag the window to one of the grids
  
• Edge Drag: Click and drag the title bar to one of the edges and keep it there for a short time until the grid to appears
  
• Keyboard: WinKey + G shows the grids. Enter a number to move the current window to that grid. This is a great timesaver as you don't even have to take your hands of the keyboard to organize your windows. You can also press letters to perform other actions:
  
  
  
  • N: GridMove will switch to the next grid on it's list.
    
  • M: toggles the maximize state of the window
    
  • 0: minimizes the window

Which program is best for you depends on your needs. GridMove is your only option if you have multiple monitors, it is also the best choice if you have a set of grids you use. I currently use WinSplit Revolution as it lets me play around with the different layouts live. I had to modify the hotkeys as my laptop does not have a numeric keypad. For the moment I use WinKey + arrow keys to move left/right/up/down in combination with Shift+Ctrl.

I may move to GridMove in the future if I find that I always use the same layout (or if I am lucky enough to get a second monitor :-)

Via Coding Horror

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Swim like a dolphin with Powerswim

DEKA has made the Powerswim device for DARPA. Normal swim fins are inefficient as they only convert about 10% of the energy to propulsion. The Department of Defense requirement was to increase the speed compared to normal swim fins by 50% and reduce by a factor of two the energy needed to maintain a speed of 1 knot. The project has been a success as the the swimmers can sustain speeds of more than 2 knots increasing energy efficiency from 10% to 85%!

The result reminds me of the SeaBreacher with a front wing and an oscillating foil:

Powerswim has been made for the DoD but I am sure it will arrive on the commercial market sooner or later.

More pictures at Ares. Via The Register and Wired.

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Happy 75th birthday Lego!

Lego celebrates its 75-year anniversary today.

They started by making wooden toys in the 1930's before they introduced the LEGO brick in 1958:

LEGO is an abbreviation of the Danish words “LEG GODT” (play well).  What a fitting name. I grew up playing with Legos an have spent countless hours inventing new things to build. Legoland is also the most "family" friendly theme park I have been to. I went with my kids last year and we had a great time.

The camping in Legoland Village was just fantastic with lots of toys and made with kids in mind. It is the only camping I have been to with "family bathrooms” that has separate small showers for the kids.

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Sharing many or large private files

A friend of mine asked how to share 160GB of photos and files with a friend?
(yes, that is 160 gigabytes not 160 megabytes). The main problem is that neither of the users are very skilled using computers so putting up a VPN is out of the question. Sending DVDs is not an option either as you need at least 40 DVDs to send so much data.

There are many file sharing/upload systems out there but nobody gives you 160GB of storage.

• GigaSize  (1.5GB)


• You send it  (max 1 GB)
  
• File factory (max 500 MB)


• Mega upload (max 250 MB)


• The upload (max 100 MB)
  
• Drop load (max 100 MB)


• Mail big file (max 100mb)
  
• Turbo upload (max 70 MB)


• 4 shared (max 50 MB)
  
• Your file host (max 25 MB)

There are some private P2P networks  around but the only decent alternative I have found so far is Folder Share.

Please let me know if you know of any other alternatives.

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Use your Nokia phone or Pocket PC as as a WebCam

wwigo (Webcam Wherever I Go) works on a wide range of Symbian based Nokia phones and lets you use your phone as a Web Cam in applications like Skype, yahoo! Messenger and Widows Live Messenger.

WebCamera plus from Ateksoft provides the same, and then some, features for the Pocket PC.

• Transform your PDA or Smartphone to high-resolution web-camera. 


• Works through any connection: USB ActiveSync, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPRS, 3G, LAN. 


• Compatible with almost all modern Smartphones and PDAs. 


• Capture device screen and transmit video to Desktop PC. 

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Jott: Hands free note taking and messaging

I often use the voice recorder of my Pocket PC to take notes when I drive or when I walk but I have to transcribe them later. Jott solves the problem, and it works with any phone: just call and leave a message to yourself or anyone else. Jott analyses the message and sends a mail with the transcribed text and an audio attachment.

A great service but currently only available in USA and Canada.