September 2008 Archives

The picture should make it clear what this does.

An elegant yet simple solution to making use of space that might normally be 'out of reach'.

If you have had to share a flat or house with other people you will know the battles and arguments that rage around "what's in the fridge".

The cause might be that you believe the others are taking your food or they simply don't get rid of their old - rotting - left-overs. Whatever the cause it creates real tension between normally laid-back people.

This design - the Flatshare Fridge - could help solve those problems. A simple base unit supports individual, stackable modules which allow each person to their own space.

This is a finalist in the Electrolux Design Lab 2008 competition.

I often wish we could have a similar system to the USA, Canada and several other countries concerning car registration plates. There they are able to select their own - within certain rules - on an annual basis.

Royal Pingdom has an article with pictures of over 20 such plates all with a Geek theme.

You can try creating one of your own at this site - just like I did for the CCS-PK plate shown here.

The BBC have equipped a freight container with a GPS device and are going to track it as it moves around the world.

You can read more about the project at this page where there is also a link to a page where you can view a map of the current location of the container.

This article is where I first read about "The Box".

Joystiq has a neat table that summarises the differences between the various versions of the PS3.

Clearly the "best" model would be the early 60GB - the one with PS1 and PS2 compatibility, plenty of USB ports, multi-flash-card reader, ethernet and wireless connectivity.

It uses a bit more electricity than later models due to the higher component count inside and the older CPU inside.

The smaller hard-disk should not put you off because Sony have made it fantastically easy to change the drive.

Almost 2 years ago the Daily Tech looked at the PS3 in detail and showed how easy it was to upgrade to 320GB disk.

Do this before you get too many game saves and other info and it really is simple.

And get the VERY LARGEST you can afford too as you'll soon find reasons to fill it up. I got a 250GB drive for mine and I'm already having to keep it tidy to avoid running out of space.

The last week has seen two major landmarks for Google.

A week ago - On 2^nd September 2008 - they launched their own browser, called Chrome. You can read more about it here and if you want to try it out it can be downloaded for free.

A couple of days later - 4^th September 2008 - Google celebrated its 10^th year as a company. A small BBC article reviews their history and achievements.

Chrome is intended to be more than just a web browser - read this CNet article to find out more. Another CNet article suggests 10 features they would like to see added to Chrome.

Finally - here's a link to the Wikipedia entry for Chrome - currently quite short I'm sure it will be extended quite quickly.

Extra :
Here are some pictures of the original hardware that was used to develop Google - a good reminder that things start small and grow bigger.

I thought that it would be nice to be the first to get a picture with their car outside the new building so I brought my Porsche in to do it justice. The builders were very understanding even though they had not completely finished everything.

I think - as you can see in the picture below - the new block looks great and with my Porsche outside it looks even better. You might say it was 'sick' but that probably describes how everyone now feels knowing I got there first.

You can put YOUR Porsche outside other buildings - just visit here.

The after-school sessions are intended to extend and help with GCSE practical coursework for Year 10 & 11 students. If there are spare workstations then other students are welcome too.

Location : B25 - Time : 3 pm to 4:30 pm

1. Friday, 12^th September 2008
2. Thursday, 18^th September 2008
3. Wednesday, 24^th September 2008
4. Thursday, 2^nd October 2008
5. Friday, 10^th October 2008
6. Thursday, 16^th October 2008
7. Thursday, 23^rd October 2008
    
    - HALF TERM -
    
   
8. Thursday, 6^th November 2008
9. Wednesday, 12^th November 2008
10. Thursday, 20^th November 2008
11. Friday, 28^th November 2008
12. Wednesday, 3^rd December 2008
13. Friday, 12^th December 2008
14. Thursday, 18^th December 2008

The day of the week changes to avoid 'clashing' with regular events like homework clubs or sport practice.