04.04
For a number of years now, the likes of Google, Slashdot and ThinkGeek have fed users new products and rolled out ground-breaking services, all of which are announced on day one of the second quarter. If you weren’t out surfing the sites Sunday, you might have missed some of them. Never fear, as I have taken it upon myself to compile a short list of some of my favorite products and services for Q2 2007.
For the coders out there, a rapid development framework for Python which uses commonly known design patterns like ActiveRecord, Association Data Mapping, Front Controller and MVC was released Sunday. Check out the PythonOnPlanes 1.3.07 release notes for more information.
I’m bad about leaving the loft without my phone. I generally won’t realize I have forgotten it until I am about to leave my parking garage, which means a trek back through the underground garage, up the elevator, down the hallway, into the loft, and back again. I’m also bad about going to the dentist as often as I should. AT&T/BellSouth/Cingular could change all of this, though, with a new technology that would allow dentists to implant a cellphone device into a user’s molars. Howstuffworks has a good description of the technology, stating that, “once implanted in a person’s molar, the transducer caused the tooth to vibrate in response to radio signals. The physical structure of the jaw carried the tooth’s vibrations to the inner ear, where the user, and no one else, could perceive them as sound.” Hopefully they’ll have this rolled out in time for my next cleaning…
Google is at it again, this time with the launch of Google TiSP, a free in-home wireless broadband service that delivers online connectivity via users’ plumbing systems. This project is years ahead of the City’s recently announced proposal with Earthlink. It will be interesting to see if the aptly nicknamed “Dark porcelain” project will stay afloat amid Google’s other projects and purchases.
While not necessarily a product or service, this next piece of news still merits a mention. We’ve already heard that actress Gillian Anderson has announced that she will not be returning in the long-awaited sequel to Chris Carter’s The X-Files: Fight the Future. In her stead, actress Julianne Moore will be portraying Special Agent Dana Scully.
And speaking of fighting the future, you can’t escape the fact that this friday is the first friday of the month, meaning that this month’s Good Geek Gathering is taking place this Good Friday at Tropioca in Midtown Houston, located at 2808 Milam near Drew. Tropioca serves up Bubble Tea, fish pizza and meatless smoothies. A few wall outlets are available, as is free WiFi, so bring your laptop if you’re so inclined.
And so you won’t come to the Geek Gathering too weighed down with old computer gear, be sure to drop it off the day before at the Siera Club’s Computer Recycling Event at the Central Presbyterian Church, located at 3788 Richmond at Timmons. They ask that you show up with your old gear between six thirty and seven thirty this Thursday. Dropped off computers will be used in training programs, and will be dismantled by the trainees. Some parts are salvaged for re-use and other parts are sorted by type for recycling. Of course if you’re going to drop off an entire PC, you may want to ensure that you wipe all the data from the drive if you believe that the drive could be reused, or just hit the thing with a hammer once or twice if you know that it is beyond salvage.
And just a heads up for next Thursday. Yuri’s Night, the World Space Party, is coming up. Scheduled for Thursday, April 13th, Yuri’s Night has been described as the St. Patricks Day or Cinco de Mayo for Space. It is one day when all the world can come together and celebrate the power and beauty of space and what it means for each of us. You can hit www.yurisnight.org for more info or just wait for next week’s BarretTime.
That’s that for your Second Quarter Update and that’s it for BarretTime.
