After watching this video on you tube I was curious, since most the comments said it did not work. I grabbed some pics that I had, and merged them on my laptop. Using the software through school, my computer was taxed. These were very large images, and I was doing it through on a network. Below are 3 of about 30.

After the images were done merging, and I had my panoramic shot, I clicked on the magic wand. The area was selected, and I clicked fill. The content aware option was checked, and I let it go to work again.

This is the final image. I was very impressed, as there were many different elements to it. The content aware feature worked well for me, and I look forward to reusing it.

The newest iPhone has hit the streets. While everyone is complaining about their antenna issues, and wiesel lawyers are finding reasons to sue. I find myself amazed at how strong this new model is, and the strength of the new glass. After watching the video below by Richard Ryan I expected the phone to blow into pieces, at least for the glass to explode, due to the round’s power. A .50 BMG round can produce between 10,000 and 15,000 foot pounds(between 14 and 18 kilojoules) or more, depending on its powder and bullet type, as well as the rifle it was fired from. I found it hard to believe the phone was in one piece. What are your thoughts?

Twitbird was recently updated to version 2.5. I have been using twitbird for about a year now, and have been very satisfied. The developers are always working to make theirs apps better, and ask customers lots of questions in order to achieve great success.I personally prefer the new espresso theme, but you can choose your own from a few different ones. This will be a brief, photo based, review of what I like the most.

The home screen allows for multiple identities, but since I am using the premium version I can have two.

Once inside your chosen account you will see the very familiar layout. This is an option, as you can also have it be in rows.

You have multiple options on how to read your tweets.

You can translate.

It allows for easy tweet management.

Also, you have options on how to read your links. Now, ReadItLAter, Instapaper, etc.

And finally, one of my favorite is the ease with which you can send tweets.

If you are looking for a twitter client, and don’t like the twitter app, give twitbird a try. What is your favorite client?

Welcome and thanks for reading. This post will cover how to run Android inside of a Virtual Machine on your Mac or PC. I will do the video on my Mac, but the same steps can be followed on a PC. The problem arose while attempting to install Android 1.6, but the video displays a way to get it to work. Thanks for reading, and please leave a comment if you have any tips.

Welcome back!!!
Apple recently introduced the iPad… I was both excited, and disappointed. I understand running the full OS X is hard for a mobile device that small, but how about doing like the iPod and taking the core, and introducing the iPad’s own version of the User Interface. In the Days to the event, I found myself thinking of the possibilities, and now find myself looking to see what the HP Slate will offer. Following are reasons I will wait before diving in…

The iPhone is great, don’t get me wrong, but its just that. The iPad was supposed to be much more, and its just a giant iPod touch. It lacks the forward facing camera we all dreamed of. Can you imagine having Skype installed on this device, and chatting with friends.

Second, the lack of multi-tasking is ridiculous. So if I am working on something I have to stop, and go to the next app, only to come and have to relaunch the previous app? Ridiculous. The lack of a built in SD card slot is unacceptable, and a loss. Having to get different kits to load your photos on the go is inconvenient, and should have been included. Also, having to sync with a PC through a cable seems out dated for such a device… How about a one time hook up, and then just wirelessly have the device do a time machine like kind off sync while you do other things.

Lastly, the very small amounts of storage feels almost restrictive. I would fill it up in podcast and iTunes U videos alone. Add to that the many movies, music, and apps and soon its full. Also, iBooks looks great, but no mention of books I already own in pdf. This might be a premature decision, as the iPad has yet to be released, but I will wait like I did with the original iPhone and save myself major disappointment. Who knows maybe I will get one of the slate PCs running the NVIDIA Tegra… What was your opinion, reaction? Thanks for reading.

Photo source is linked to acknowledge the original owner.

Welcome Back!!!
As you know this blog helps me keep track of things I have learned, and helps burn things into my brain. Today we are going to discuss the software life cycle, which was broken down into seven steps. Different people explain it with less steps, but as you will see the results are the same.

1. Specify the Requirement
2. Data Analysis
3. Problem Analysis
4. Algorithm
5. Coding
6. Testing
7. Maintenance

The first four steps are known as the front end, and help eliminate logic errors. The front end requires that you carry out the algorithm by hand, and the data gathered can be used as test data once the code is compiled. The front end represents the logic of the problem, and if completed successfully the only errors remaining should be in the syntax. The last three steps are known as the back end, and are used to write the solution in a manner in which the computer will be able to utilize it. Through out this post any examples will be in written in pseudocode.

Next time I will dive into the front end, and follow that by covering the back end. All your comments are welcomed as I would like others searching for answers to have the best information available.

A First Book in Software Development covers this information in more detail.

Welcome back, it’s been a while. I have been on the move a lot here lately, but have no fear… There were plenty of sleepless nights where I was attempting to accomplish something, but could not get my equipment to comply… So more blogs are to come…

On to the topic at hand… The evil case. Beware of what you wish for!!!

Whenever I setup a new rig it has to be exactly what I want, or what’s the point. I always like to have a powerful, yet smaller system running as it saves space. This seemed like a great idea at the time of planning, but assembly went on it backfired. The case is a Antec Mini P180 Black Computer Case and is a great looking case. The problem came when I decided to slap it together…

As you can see, the motherboards power cable was going to be in the way of the harddrive rails just slghtly. This did not deter me though, as I simply modified it a little bit. All I required was a pair of sheet metal cutters, and the job was complete.

The cuts were small, about (1/2)” and then folded back and flattened. The end result is not pretty, but its the insights that really count and once the cover is on… Only you and the case will know what really did happen that evil day.

The before and after show the small mod, but I am currently running three 250GB drives for my operating systems, and have a DVD Burner in one of the bays as well. There are no problems at all, and the system is just like I wanted. Do not be afraid to modify it, or customize it… Its just metal after all.

The other day I heard about Hulu developing and releasing a desktop application native to Mac OS X. I was immediately off to download it, and put it through a very light test. I downloaded, and mounted the image file. Inside there was the application, and a file folder with plugins. After the installation, I started the application. It was fairly fast and the GUI was nice and simple.

The initial launch has what I assume to be the show of the week, and as you can see mine was “The Listener”. I hadn’t even heard of this show, but found it very interesting.

The Menu was very simple, and easy to use. The selections cascaded and allowed for faster flow.

You also have an option for selecting the popular shows, and episodes. This was the route I took, and selected a show.

After the choice it allows for watching, queueing, and recommending. I chose to watch the show.

Finally, the quality of the image was good. It was an easy to use application, and for those of us on the move its great. I enjoyed the app, and use it to keep up with my shows. It comes with 15 sec, and 30 sec commercials. The alternative is up to 20 minutes of commercials, so I will continue to use this app.

Howdy Folks!!!
Welcome back to another session of the perfect machine. This time around we will discuss the limitations I encountered when building this beast. The first thing I learned was to check EFI-X and review their approved parts list. This was crucial as the module was only proven on a growing list of hardware. Second, develop an idea of what kind of machine you want to build. This is important as certain parts are limited in where they can be used. For example, take my motherboard, I wanted a smaller tower and this led me to choose the only MicroATX on the list. The
DFI LP JR P45-T2RS is a good bang for your buck. The board can handle a variety of quad core processors. It can take up to a 16GB of memory, and comes with overclocking software. This is a gaming board built specifically for lan parties, and for my purpose it was more than enough.

Second, the processor was an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 2.5GHz. This part almost ended up being wrong, but luckily I checked DFI’s website and was able to select the correct processor for my board. I wanted the quad core in order to be able to run a virtual machine and give it 2 cores and 4GB of memory. The VM runs as if it was a stand alone PC. Awesome!!!

Memory was not hard too choose, and I basically knew I wanted 8GB. I chose to get 2 G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) as they were affordable and had a good reputation. After this, it gets ridiculously expensive. ***Don’t forget that you need a 64bit operating system to run all 8GB.***

The video card was last, and it had to be decent. I am not a gamer by any means, but do play the occasional shooter. I also knew I wanted a dual monitor set up in order to facilitate working and researching. The candidate came down to XFX GeForce 9800 GT
. The card has 512Mb of memory and can handle 2 DVI monitors.

The setup seemed perfect so far, until I ordered the case… Stay tuned.

Have you built an EFI-X system? What was your experience? Leave a comment, and we’ll share notes.

I was reading an article today that said google was releasing Squared… “The Wolfram Alpha killer”. Immediately I was intrigued by this declaration, and read a couple of other blogs. I thought to myself, “If this is supposed to be a Wolfram Alpha killer… Let me test it”. As an engineering student I thought of a couple of things that Wolfram Alpha can do, and compared two stocks. The results were below…

First, I wanted the integration of Cos(x)… Easy enough, but unfortunately Squared could not perform the operation. Winner= Wolfram Alpha

Second, I asked the gravitational constant. Simple enough, just spit out a number, but squared built some knowledge boxes and failed to provide the answer at all. Winner= Wolfram Alpha

Last, but not least. A small comparison, but squared did not comply. Winner= Wolfram Alpha

Conclusion, Google Squared is a good data gathering site. Wolfram Alpha is a computational site capable of performing mathematical operations. The two should be in separate categories as Squared has a long way to go before it can even be considered a contender. I know these test were a little biased, but I wanted to see if it could truly kill Wolfram Alpha. What are you thoughts?