26/01/2010

PlayonLinux

PlayOnLinux is a piece of sofware which allows you to easily install and use numerous games and softwares designed to run with Microsoft®'s Windows®.
Few games are compatible with GNU/Linux at the moment and it certainly is a factor preventing the migration to this system. PlayOnLinux brings an accessible and efficient solution to this problem, cost-free and rescpetful of the free softwares.
What are PlayOnLinux's features?

Here is a non-exhaustive list of the interesting points to know:

* You don't have to own a Windows® license to use PlayOnLinux.
* PlayOnLinux is based on Wine, and so profits from all its possibilities yet it keeps the user away from its complexity while exploiting some of its advanced functions.
* PlayOnLinux is a free software.
* PlayOnLinux uses Bash and Python
[all text directly copied and pasted from http://www.playonlinux.com/en/ . No permission asked but I guess it's Ok given the fact that it attracts more people to their site]

22/01/2010

some anthropology lectures and iTunes U

Berkeley university of California anthropology courses.

A series of University of Oxford anthropology lectures organised by Linacre College.

Guns Germs and Steel by National Geographic

Based on the book by Jared Diamond "Guns Germs and Steel" by National Geographic.
"Jared Diamond’s journey of discovery began on the island of Papua New Guinea. There, in 1974, a local named Yali asked Diamond a deceptively simple question: “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo, but we black people had little cargo of our own?”

Browsing iTunes U without intalling iTunes

For those of use using another operating system than Windows, or not having iTunes, it's a real pain in the a**, not being able to follow courses that more and more universities prefer to publish on iTunes U. The solution is emulation,by emulating the iTunes client we fool the system.
Better explained on the TechnoBabel site.

The solution

Emulating the iTunes client: the script can be tested at

http://www2.unil.ch/itunesu/index.groovy?handle=[itunesU url]

It only needs the url which would open in iTunes and converts it to a displayable webpage.

For example for mit.edu: http://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browsev2/mit.edu

http://www2.unil.ch/itunesu/index.groovy?handle=http://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browsev2/mit.edu

Let's try it on a couple of NTNU podcasts:

http://www2.unil.ch/itunesu/index.groovy?handle=http://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/ntnu.no

Strange it don't seem to work on NTNU iTunes U podcasts but on all other major international universities using iTunes U. Should I be surprised?

Well give it a try on MIT and Standford and you will see that it works.

local iTunes U urls:
MIT
http://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/mit.edu
Standford
http://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browsev2/itunes.stanford.edu


iTunes U bookmarklet, just fill in your local iTunes U url and you get access to iTunes U content.

Running apps from SD card on android

Let's hope Google soon realize that they have to offer the possibility to run and save applications from your SD card. For those of use loving applications the internal memory storage is far too limited. Running big programs will be impossible on the android unless you open the possibility to save and run applications from your SD card.
I have read/followed threads from numerous forums and the only solution to the problem at the present stage is to root your phone, but I don't want to do that.
If rooting my phone it will definitely be a high security risk.

12/01/2010

Barcode scanning

ReadWriteWeb is in a new series called "Mobile Web Meets Internet of Things" focusing on how the biggest trends tracked last year, Mobile Web and Internet of Things are converging, the first focus is on barcode scanning.

03/01/2010

Libraries, eBooks, and the Mobile Web: A Long Way to Go

"According to a new report from Cambridge University (PDF), students aren't interested in being able to read eBooks and eJournals on their mobile phones. Instead, users are far more interested in opening hours, location maps, contact info, and access to the library catalog".
[source:ReadWriteWeb]