CELL PHONES IN THE GLOBAL VILLAGE

In Uganda, one can pay a small price and have their cell phone charged at a station, like the one shown in the picture above.

Limited access to electric power and cell phones in Uganda are most likely factors for cell phone charging stations like the one above. Actually, many households in Uganda are powered by car batteries. Sometimes batteries are shared between households. A car battery will normally supply one household for about a month. When their battery runs, they can pay 1000 Ugandan shillings (about $1 US) to have it recharged. It will take about 3-5 days for a car baterry charging service to recharge a family's battery. Car battery charging services are not located in every village, so often one will have to pay extra for pick-up and delivery. Because of Uganda's unique power and cell phone situation, it is not uncommon for cell phones to be shared amoung groups of people.

do it......for science.

Perhaps you've heard of heard of open source software? Maybe the term OSS rings a bell?
Well, you are reading Eddie Whelan's introspective technology blog, so nod and don't act like your ill informed.
Gosh, sit up strait. Blink you eyes a few times and do a stretch or something....okay..good..now you're ready.

Actually, it's not so bad. Open Source Software (OSS), is somthing you most likely are aquanted with on a daily basis.
For instance, Mozilla Firefox, Audacity Sound Software, Linux, and Apache are all examples of Open Source Softwares that are used by millions.

So what is It?

Basically, it is computor software whose source code is available under a liscence that allows users to study, change, update and redistribute the software. It is sort of the "user-generated" version of computor software. Ideally "openning the source" allows software to constantly be updated freely by anyone. Like in the user-generated content world, the goal is that since anyone can have the chance to modify a software, innovation will flourish, allowing the best designs to rise to the top.
Sounds a bit Utopian doesn't it? In a computor softwary way...yes. But don't expect big bussiness folks to "buy in" to this sort of thing quite yet. No grammas give up recipes without a fight.

However, there is a place for OSS, and it is definately the interent. The Open Source Movement may be one of the most innovative and prolific energies concernig our precious digital age. Just imagine, a custom fit interface, "hand made" personalized software. Its a far cry from the mainstream today, but it might be what the future holds.

Untill then, the nerds still rule....


links on more info about Open Source.

www.opensource.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_software

http//really.did.you.think.we.didnt.know.//-about.the.iphone.org.?

Free is Good

It's always nice to hear when you can get something cool for free.
In a search for free services on the web, I came across The Free Site.

www.thefreesite.com

It's a pretty cool site. They've compiled links to all sorts of free services relivant to any every day user of the world wide web.
I found free web space (up to 1,000 megs on Profuse.com), free fonts (if your into graphic design), free sounds, free email, free software, the list goes on. Basically, its a good site to bookmark. You do have to do some sifting, but there is definately some gold to find....and its free

-Ed

salvage, reprogram, recycle

Salvage, Reprogram, Recycle.

3-D imaging isn't that new. Nowadays professionals working in fields ranging from Architecture , industrial design, Video, or Animation rely on computer programs that allow one to design and render three dimensional images and animation.
One problem, any number of these professionals may run into everyday, is "writing time," or "rendering time." When using 3-D animation or digital video software, even after most of designing is finished, it can take a very long time for
a single computer to "render" the final product so that it can be viewed. A solution to this program is a process known as "Render Farming." Basically it is when you link up multiple computers and program them to work as one, combining all of their processing power, and making one "super" computer that will cut your animation rendering time in half. An exiting thing about render farming is that it is possible for you to build one your self, and it might not even cost you that much. You can re-use older "out-dated" computers to make up the muscle of your farm. The more computers you have linked up, the faster you can render your digital work.
Though most of these are used in animation, I'm curious if they could be used to render digital video. Also, i wonder if someone could hack a PS3 to use for use as a rendering computer, after all doesn't if have like 9 processors?

Here's a link to an article that goes more in depth about render farming.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1815797,00.asp