By Jamie Condliffe, Gizmodo – February 13, 2013 at 04:32AM
You’ve almost certainly seen the dancing gorilla video which demonstrates the theory of change blindness—a phenomenon which means we don’t see changes we’re not expecting. Now, an updated experiment shows that the same may be true of radiologists analyzing CT images. More » 
By dendory, Inventor Spot – Inventions, Innovations, and Interesting Ideas for the Inventor in All of Us – February 12, 2013 at 12:45PM
The Star Wars opening text is visible through an Internet traceroute. Geeks and techies rejoice as the opening crawl appears on your consoles.
By Michael McLaughlin, Planet MySQL – February 12, 2013 at 03:16AM
I had an interesting conversation about table functions in Oracle’s PL/SQL; and the fact that they’re not available in MySQL. When I explained they’re available in Microsoft T-SQL User-Defined Functions (UDFs), my students wanted a small example. One of them said they’d tried to do it but couldn’t get it to work because they found the Microsoft web pages difficult to read and use. Specifically, they didn’t like the sparseness of this one on how to create a function.
Here’s a quick definition of a UDF table function that runs in the studentdb schema (created in this post for migrating SQL Server into a MySQL database). The following getConquistador function takes a single string, which acts to filter the result set from a query positioned as the return value of the function.
CREATE FUNCTION studentdb.getConquistador (@nationality AS VARCHAR(30)) RETURNS TABLE RETURN SELECT * FROM studentdb.conquistador WHERE nationality = @nationality; |
Unlike Oracle SQL, where you need to use the TABLE function to read the content of a table result from a function, you don’t need anything other than the function call in the FROM clause of a T-SQL query. Here’s an example of calling the table function:
SELECT * FROM studentdb.getConquistador('German'); |
The complete result from the query would produce these results when run from the sqlcmd command-line interface:
conquistador_id conquistador actual_name nationality
--------------- --------------------- -------------------- ------------
11 Nicolas de Federman Nikolaus Federmann German
13 Jorge de la Espira George von Speyer German
(2 rows affected)
|
However, you also have the ability to query only rows of interest without any specialized syntax, like this:
1> USE studentdb; 2> SELECT conquistador AS "Conquistador" 3> , actual_name AS "Name" 4> FROM studentdb.getConquistador('German'); 5> GO |
This produces the following two-column result set:
Conquistador Name --------------------- -------------------- Nicolas de Federman Nikolaus Federmann Jorge de la Espira George von Speyer (2 rows affected) |
Hope this helps those interested in T-SQL UDFs.
By Lambert V., The Awesomer – February 11, 2013 at 07:15PM
Our bet to win the 2013 Oscar for Best Animated Short, Minkyu Lee’s Adam and Dog is about the meeting of the first man and the first man’s best friend. Immerse yourself in its wonderful visuals.
Stanley Pickle
Adam Savage’s No-Face
Tim Adam Bags
Adam Rabalais Movie Posters
Notion Ink Adam Preview
By Whitson Gordon, Lifehacker – February 09, 2013 at 11:00AM
What if you were a wizard that could bend the entire world to your will? Chores would do themselves, bills would pay on time, and your appliances would obey your every thought. Well, you can’t do that exactly, but with a bit of ingenuity, you can automate a lot of your life so you don’t have to trudge through the boring stuff. Here are ten things you can automate right now.
No one likes to sit around and clean up their computer, but it’s something that has to get done. We’ve talked about what kind of maintenance you need to do on your Windows PC and Mac, and much of that you can automate—like running CCleaner on a schedule. You should also set up an automated backup program, so you never lose your data. Set it up once, and forget it.
Paying bills and managing your budget sucks. Luckily, we live in an age where computers can do a lot of the work for us. Have your bills automatically pay themselves online, and set up an automatic budget that’s easy to stick to with Mint. Check out our guide to automating your finances for more ideas, and be sure to check out when you shouldn’t automate your finances, too.
Whether you’re trying to lose weight or just take the stress out of planning and cooking, you can automate what you eat with a number of tools. Gather all your recipes up in one place and plan your weekly meals ahead of time for stress-free shopping and cooking. If you need to pay closer attention to your diet (like if you’re trying to lose weight), try a service like Eat This Much or Swole.me, which will plan your diet for you based on your goals. That way, you can keep an eye on what you eat and stay on track with minimal effort.
We’ve all got stacks of papers lying around, not to mention a hard drive full of unorganized files. Luckily, you can automate just about anything with those files using a few tools. First, if you’re having trouble organizing that paper, go paperless so you can organize it digitally—it won’t take you much time. Ditch hard drive clutter by organizing your home folder automatically. For everything else, you can use Actions on Windows or Automator on the Mac—they’ll let you automatically rename a bunch of files, crop a large number of images, or even extract text from a bunch of PDF files. Anything you can imagine, you can probably do—heck, I even put together a service that syncs iTunes with nearly any device.
Whether you’re grocery shopping or trekking yourself to Home Depot, you can make shopping a lot easier by…well, not doing it. For example, Amazon Subscribe & Save will automatically send you everything you need on a schedule, and at a nice discount—heck, you can even use it to automate office lunches. Don’t like grocery shopping? Get what you can delivered, and plan your way through the store for the few things you can’t. While you’re at it, be sure to automate all your coupons so you don’t have to search for discounts—you’ll just get them automatically.
Smartphones can be useful, but sometimes it feels like it takes forever to perform the simplest of tasks. With a few tools, you can essentially make your phone read your mind, performing tasks in response to related actions. For example, you could tell your phone to automatically dim your screen at night, or go into silent mode when you put it face down. Android users should check out Tasker, while iPhone users will need to jailbreak and try out some of these tools to make it happen.
You probably have a few apps and tools that you absolutely couldn’t live without—like Dropbox, Gmail, a to-do list, or something else. That’s great, but you can make those services even better by automating tasks—and even making them talk to each other—with If This Then That, also known as IFTTT. Make job searches easier, save articles for later, fix Instagram pictures on Twitter, add to-dos with Siri, make app deals last forever, archive your life, get digital doubles of your photos, and much much more. There’s barely a limit to what it can do.
The days of combing the net for good downloads is over. With a small collection of programs, you can have your computer automatically search for, download, and organize nearly any type of file in existence. You can even tell it the quality of videos you want to download, the file format of the music you want, or what program you want to use to download it. It takes a little work to set up, but you’ll never have to search for a file on the web again.
Doing chores is boring, so why waste time doing them when you can put them on autopilot? You can’t make your broom come alive and clean the room for you (unless you’re Merlin), but you can create a schedule that breaks everything up into almost unnoticeable chunks. Do your cleaning in regular short bursts, speed up your laundry, and even maintain your home without batting an eyelash. It isn’t true automation, but it’ll sure feel like it when you have all that extra time in your day.Photo by Maarten Takens.
Ever wish you could change the thermostat without getting up, or unlock your door without fumbling with your keys? Home automation can make it happen. We’ve shared tons of tricks over the years, from transforming your digs into a home of the future, controlling everything with Siri, turning stuff off with your phone, or even watering the plants and feeding the cat. Check out all our posts on home automation for even more ideas—the sky’s the limit!
By Dieter Petereit, noupe – February 09, 2013 at 09:18AM
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No matter whether you like the design style of iOS or you don’t. We need not participate in the ongoing discussion about sceuomorphism. One topic cannot be disputed. I’m talking about the toolbar design Apple’s iOS introduced. Modern websites tend to adapt that concept more often than not. Tapping an icon or a link unveils more options. This is space-saving and an established implementation by now. The jQuery plugin Toolbar.js, created by Paul Kinzett from New Zealand, allows for iOS-style toolbars on any website. The tool is dead-simple to integrate.
By Noemi Twigg, ForeverGeek – February 08, 2013 at 03:23AM
Infographics are so ubiquitous these days that you can easily say “There’s an infographic for that!” instead of “There’s an app for that!”, can’t you?
Sometimes, though, you get to see an infographic that totally gets your attention. You start out thinking it’s just another infographic that may be interesting to browse, and before you know it, you’ve been on the page for longer than your break. Of course, the double-checking and other distracting elements come into play as well. Not to mention sharing the thing with friends and engaging them on chat at the same time, debating the finer points of the infographic.
That’s exactly what I came across today: The Evolution of Star Trek.
From Gene Roddenberry’s experience as a World War II pilot to William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy first appearing on TV as the iconic “couple” – The Evolution of Star Trek is nothing short of mesmerizing.
Another aspect of The Evolution of Star Trek that I think gives it an edge is the fact that it integrates real-life information related to man’s achievements in space. I don’t know if kids still learn about Yuri Gagarin these days, but the likes of him and the Challenger are mentioned.
There’s no point in me nattering on about the graphic when you can go over it yourself. Enjoy the weekend!
(Note: For more Star Trek infographic goodness, check out The Only Star Trek Character Chart You’ll Need.)
The Evolution of Star Trek
By (author unknown), Dilbert Daily Strip – February 08, 2013 at 01:00AM
By Stett Holbrook, MAKE – February 06, 2013 at 12:40PM
Warm weather is not so far away and that means the outdoor cooking season coming up. With that in mind, I thought it would be interesting to talk about how to build a variety of outdoor ovens. In this episode of Food Makers, a Google+ hangout on air at 2pmPST/5pmEST, I’ll be talking to experts Kiko Denzer and Eva and Max Edelson. Kiko is the author Build Your Own Earth Oven and Eva and Max founded Firespeaking, a website about masonry heaters, wood-fired heaters, and natural building.
By Joshua Lockhart, MakeUseOf – February 04, 2013 at 08:31PM
Google Maps and Google Earth have always been known for helping mobility-impaired wunderlusters virtually adventure all over the globe. However, despite any of your current obstacles, it’s always possible – whether it be after time or financial gain – to travel at least once in your life.
What is actually impossible is the ability to go back in time and visit worldwide landmarks during different eras, but as expected, Google has already attempted to fix this small problem in the time-space continuum.
Our technological TARDIS remains on Earth, but nevertheless, the potential that Google Maps and Google Earth offer is impressive. I’m here to show you just how impressive they can be.
We all have used Street View to take a look at our house (or to see if the neighbors down the street actually have a pool). However, for those of you seeking to be more productive with your Google Map activities, there are a few historical sites to explore on your own. Most of them offer user-submitted images to view as well, and if you are up for browsing, you can find hundreds of these locations. Below are three of them.
The world of Hamlet comes to life through the Street View images of Kronborg Castle. Here, you can move about the castle’s courtyard on your own and view photos that showcase the structure in a variety of ways. On the historically-accurate side of the fence, I say it’s always interesting to tour places that were influenced so much by war.
While serving as a British decryption area for Axis-transmitted ciphers during World War II, the intelligence acquired from Bletchley Park helped the Allies take down the U-boats in the Battle of The Atlantic. That said, this secretive site is now open for the public to view today. It’s funny how history works, isn’t it?
Catherine Palace was a summer residence for Russian tsars, but it eventually came to be known for Catherine the Great – its namesake. The female leader of Russia called for several renovations during her lifetime, building it to be the beautiful structure we see represented today.
Note that I did say “represented”, for the Germans intentionally destroyed it during World War II. Fortunately, the Russians kept many records depicting its original state, and it was allowed to be rebuilt quite efficiently.
There are quite a few other locations you can find in addition to the places I’ve shown here. However, with Google Photo Tours, you can be magically transported through an automatic 3D-like slideshow which jumps you from place to place throughout a location. As a matter of fact, Google has a map that links to each and and every single one that exists. Please note that you must use MapGL in order for these to work.
Beyond Street View and Google Photo Tours are sites and other creations that have integrated Google Maps and Earth. Keep reading to check out just a few of them.
There And Then may be my most favorite site out of all the ones shown here, and it’s because of its unique incorporation of video into Google Street View. The site exhibits an album of selectable historically significant locations, and after choosing one, a screenshot of its Google Street View image will take up the screen along with an extra snazzy feature.
Layered upon the Street View is a YouTube video displaying the same selected location in its former years. What makes this interesting is that the video content is graphically lined up with the Street View picture, providing the illusion of history happening in the present. As a note, Street View is not actually usable with There And Then.
History Pin lets contributors geographically pin their photographs of landmarks to a Google map. While on the site, you could search for a location like the Eiffel Tower. After “arriving” to your destination, you’ll see a group of photographs focused on the metal wonder that include an image from 1855 and one depicting a scene from New Year’s Eve of 2008. These are just a few samples of the many pictures found here, and it’s also a small sample of what History Pin has to offer as a whole.
Along with this image-sharing feature are on-screen tours, collections of landmark photos, and personalized channels. Users can easily add their own photos, highlighting the History Pin’s creators’ desire for a collaborative environment. Furthermore, a search-by-date function exists, helping you see the world at any point of time.
Google Earth already offers several different 3D building models for web-world travelers to discover, but if you do a bit of searching, you’ll find a few 3D shipwrecks scattered across the seas, too. The above link will actually allow you to download a .KMZ file that whisks you away to the Titanic shipwreck site, taking you below the waters and to a crude 3D model of the behemoth.
Of course, the 3D model of the ship by itself isn’t very educational. Alongside the polygonal representation are a few photographs of the sunken Titanic paired with links to the photo source. All in all, this little feature is amazing.
Oh, and here are a few more .KMZ files for you to download:
If this doesn’t satiate your historical cravings, you can find a number of them at Google Earth Hacks.
The world is a vast and wonderful place, and the folks Google are just crazy enough to try and document it all. In real life, it would be impossible to visit every square inch of this planet, and unfortunately, it seems to be be the same case with Google’s electronic representation. However, I’m willing to bet you can see a lot more of the world in a lot less time using the above links. (Nothing beats breathing in a new kind of air, though.)
What other locations have you found with Google Maps and Google Earth? Do you have any suggestions for us here at MakeUseOf?
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