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Wednesday, July 4, 2012

What's happening to iGoogle? - Web Search Help

iGoogle will be retired in 16 months, on November 1, 2013. The mobile version will be retired on July 31, 2012.
How did you come to this decision?
We originally launched iGoogle in 2005 before anyone could fully imagine the ways that today's web and mobile apps would put personalized, real-time information at your fingertips. With modern apps that run on platforms like Chrome and Android, the need for something like iGoogle has eroded over time, so we’ll be winding down iGoogle on November 1, 2013, giving you a full 16 months to adjust or easily export your iGoogle data.
What will happen to the data stored in my gadgets?
All of your personal data stored in other Google products will continue to be available via those products, including Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Finance, Google Docs (now Google Drive), Google Bookmarks, and Google Tasks. Other gadgets, like the to-do list, allow you to export your data - look for the “Download all” option under the drop-down menu tied to the title of your list. Most iGoogle gadgets are created and maintained by third-party developers. If you’d like to export your data, you should contact the gadget creator directly.
I really like iGoogle -- are there any other alternatives?
On your mobile device, Google Play offers applications ranging from games to news readers to home screen widgets.
If you’re a fan of Google Chrome, the Chrome Web Store provides a similar range of options like productivity tools and applications to check the weather. In addition, just like iGoogle, you can personalize Chrome with a theme.
Go there...
http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2664197

Well, this is a bit of Bad News to me... I have used iGoogle, since it first came out and really like it. I have mine set up with my favorite Tech News Headlines, from my favorite Sites. It saves me allot of time, in finding interesting information all day, every day. I have iGoogle set as my Browsers Home Page and of course it has Google Search at the Top. This makes it so easy to use Google for my Web Searches. My favorite Web Browser is Firefox and I do have Search at the Top right side in the Tool Bar. But, even with a 23 inch Monitor. It is too short for me to read all of the words that I type or past in for my searches. I don't like that. I can't glance at what I typed to change it or check my spelling. So, I rarely use it. I use to have my search "Bar" Set to use Google. But, now I have it set to use DuckDuckGo. I like the concept of DuckDuckGo But, it really doesn't find what I am looking for, all that well. I have to go through the results, as far as Page 3, usually to find what I want. This happens when I am looking for a page that I have been to before, but can't remember the URL, for instance. That's how I gauge it... But, the more Google Changes things, especially the Lack of Privacy... The more I am being Pushed towards other Search Engines, like DuckDuckGo.

And a long time ago... Before there was an iGoogle... There was a Yahoo Start page. I used it, back then and liked it allot. But, I always liked the Search Results that I got from Google and still do. The My Yahoo Home - Start Page is still available at, http://my.yahoo.com And it has Apps that you can add to it too. I found one of my Favorites. The Hack a Day App. Which will put the headlines from HackaDay.com on your Home Page. It is easy to setup and you can change Themes too. But, I know I still wont be using Yahoo Search again any time soon. Well, unless Google keeps changing things to the Point that I don't like their Search any more. Here's some links to more iGoogle Alternatives...

Don

iGoogle Alternatives: iGoogle Alternative - Google Search; Netvibes – Social Media Monitoring, Analytics and Alerts Dashboard; StartPage - StartPage Sites as alternative to iGoogle; iGoogle Shutdown: AllMyFaves is the Perfect Alternative Homepage « All My Faves | Blog | @allmyfaves; iGoogle Alternative Netvibes; 5 iGoogle Alternatives You Should Consider - TECHGEEK.com.au; iGoogle Alternative at DuckDuckGo; Two more iGoogle alternatives | Workers' Edge - CNET News; I want to: 25 iGoogle Alternatives; uStart.org - Your customisable start page!; Click here to title your page!; iGoogle Alternative gadgets at DuckDuckGo; My Yahoo!; My Yahoo!

News 07-04-12: Ask Hackaday: Who wants to build a function generator? - Hack a Day; Are We Finally Outsmarting the MRSA Superbug?; FDA Approves First at-Home HIV Test; HowStuffWorks "20 Facts About the Statue of Liberty"; For Midwest Corn Crop, the Pressure Rises, Like the Heat - NYTimes.com; CERN Physicists May Have Discovered Higgs Boson Particle - NYTimes.com; Romney, in Shift, Says Health Care Mandate Is a Tax - NYTimes.com; European Parliament Rejects Anti-Piracy Treaty - NYTimes.com; Create A Collage From Your Own Photos; Kansas City MakerFaire: Greentechweekly’s coverage - Hack a Day; The most surprising game of Simon you’ve every played - Hack a Day; What Can We Do With the Higgs Boson? | Wired Science | Wired.com; HowStuffWorks Videos "Hypnosis Videos"; Fifa looks at electronic augmentation - Hack a Day; What's happening to iGoogle? - Web Search Help; DuckDuckGo; DuckDuckGo at DuckDuckGo

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Levitating Light Bulb (Wireless Power Transfer + Magnetic Levitation)

LevLight Project (Magnetic Levitation + Wireless Power Transfer)

Video Link...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lnqdL1ZF6kI

Chris Rieger | LevLight

This is a project I've been working on for about 6 months now next to my regular studies. It is a levitating light bulb. This project came to life when i saw Jeff Lieberman's implementation of it a few months before starting. I was fascinated and started research on building my own, reading many academic papers and spending long nights reading up on pretty much every project which included wireless power transfer or magnetic leviation. What I found is that there are many many existing projects of both, but only a few have combined both these technologies. Once you have both working it's really just a matter of overlaying them. The high frequency magnetic field generated from the wireless power transfer circuit does not effect the leviation aspect of the build.

Of course I had many failed attempts and have a small box full of wasted components and boards I've soldered. Stable leviation is not easy. Instead of boring you with the failed attempts, instead I'll tell you what worked. For the levitation system I ended up slightly modifying an existing circuit built by Eric Taylor. My configuration is slightly different and am using a 3 pin linear hall effect sensor from RS components to act as the feedback mechanism. I opted for a 1.325mV/g sensor (the smallest sensitivity i could find), as the magnetic flux it was sensing was maxing out the reading on others. If you are looking to build one, this circuit is simple and works with only slight modification depending on the input sensor you have. The drive coil I'm using is 300 meters (1kg) of 20awg wire. It draws about 0.2 - 0.25A when stable at 12V. It doesn't seem to heat up over time, unless the light is not levitating, in which maximum (0.8A) current is driven through the coil.
Efficient wireless power transfer was the more painful part of this project. I started off with 555 oscillators used by a few people, but the power transfer is not strong enough and the waveform was horrendous. For my final design I must give credit to an old but very simply design by Marko. I have modified his circuit slightly to better limit the heat generated by this circuit. It runs at pretty much exactly 1Mhz pulling 0.5A at 12V. Although this consumes around 6 watts, after running it for a half an hour, the small heatsinks are merely warm. After having built an oscillator, the next part was to build the wireless power receive circuit, which is a simple LC circuit tuned at exactly 1Mhz. After spending a few nights with my scope and components, i managed to tune it fairly well. It is actually amazing how small changes in the geometry of the coil (changing the inductance and resonant frequency) effect the coupling of the resonant coils so largely. It is therefore fairly time consuming but rewarding to tune this part accurately.

Read More...
http://chrisrieger.com/LevLight.aspx

Levitating Light Bulb (Wireless Power Transfer + Magnetic Levitation): Levitating lightbulb does it all with no wires - Hack a Day; Levitating Light Bulb (Wireless Power Transfer + Magnetic Levitation) - YouTube; Chris Rieger | LevLight; Floating globe, hacked to rotate - Hack a Day

Louis C.K.: Scalping Isn’t A Crime, We’re Just Competing With It For The Good Of The Fans | WebProNews

I never heard of this guy before. Evidently, he is a very Popular Comedian. I do like what he is doing to help stop Outrageous Ticket Pricing and Scalping, on Tickets to his Shows. And he is funny in the Louis CK - Turning 40, Video!:) And I can tell you... after being 40 for 15 years now... He is Exactly Right!:)

Don

Louis CK - Turning 40

Video Link...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WzEhoyXpqzQ

After looking at the early figures from comedian Louis C.K., it was hard to call his most recent direct-to-fans venture anything but a massive success. After announcing that he planned to forgo Ticketmaster or any other similar service and sell tickets for his upcoming standup tour straight to fans on his website, Louis C.K. gave us some encouraging news:

Less than 48 hours after ticket sales opened up on his site, the tour had sold 100,000 tickets. With a flat cost of $45 per ticket, you can probably do the math. But for the lazy, that's a gross of $4.5 million.

"I guess it was a good idea," he said.

A few days later, he took to Twitter to warn people that scalped tickets would be no good at any of the shows on his tour:

Louis C.K.

not a single ticket on stubhub. If u see over-priced tix to this tour ANYWHERE, buying is a big risk. It will be invalid at showtime.

It was clear the Louis C.K. is very serious about this new model for ticket sales.

"Making my shows affordable has always been my goal but two things have always worked against that. High ticket charges and ticket re-sellers marking up the prices," he said in an email to fans. "Some ticketing services charge more than 40% over the ticket price and, ironically, the lower I've made my ticket prices, the more scalpers have bought them up, so the more fans have paid for a lot of my tickets."

So Good Guy Louis C.K. sincerely wants his shows to be more accessible to his growing throngs of fans. That's absolutely believable considering last year he released his latest comedy special online, DRM-free for $5. Louis C.K. started a trend with that "Live at Beacon" release – one that was shortly followed by the likes of Aziz Ansari and Jim Gaffigan.

Despite his warnings and good intentions, it's unavoidable that people have seen the low $45 price money and vision of scalping danced through their heads. A quick trip to StubHub shows four tickets available for his October 27th show at the New York City Center – and they're going for around $245 a piece.