Technology

What I find most fascinating about Apple’s new iPhone, is the shift from buttons to body. Getting away from the paradigm of pressing buttons to make a call or to navigate, the iPhone boasts a large multi-touch screen where the user will be able to interact by pointing at pictures and objects. Furthermore, the built-in rotation sensor will sense the direction of the device and rotate the screen accordingly, somehow similar to how new digital cameras rotate the pictures you take automatically....

I had a discussion about which software tools I use for my research, so here is a list of the most important (in no particular order): Firefox: with adblock and mouse gestures. NetNewsWire: for handling all the blogs I am reading. MarsEdit: to write blog entries. Publishes directly to my WordPress driven blog. OmniGraffle: for making diagrams. I even made my last conference poster with this program, works great also with photos....

Gregory Taylor has made an interview with Tim Place about Hipno. It is interesting how he comments about the Hipnoscope control: The Hipnoscope does something that I’m quite proud of, which is that it allows you to quickly audition a plug-in and some of its possibilities. But at the same time it really rewards those who are patient explorers that spend time really focusing on subtleties offers. I still find myself surprised at the results I get sometimes - the Hipnoscope creates this palette where there is an almost infinite range of subtlety with some of the plug-ins....

I came across Dave Parry’s blog academhack, with some interesting comments on Mac software in an academic context. I was particularly happy about his 5 Ways to use Quicksilver, which helped me get started using the web and dictionary search in Quicksilver.

{#image361}If you ever wanted some nice, pink noise in the background while working on your computer, Noise is the tool! Apparently, lots of people use this to try and shut out more distractive sounds. While I would prefer a program doing noise-cancelling (which would probably be tricky using the built-in microphone since it would also detect your own sounds while typing on the keyboard), this actually works ok.

This video shows WiiMote used as a mouse on windows.

Jamie just pointed me to YouOS, an operating system running entirely within a web browser: YouOS and its applications run entirely within a web browser, but have the look and feel of desktop applications. An application’s code and data reside remotely but are executed and modified locally. This model allows for a great deal of freedom. You can edit a document at home in a text editor and then go to school or work and instantly access the same text editor and document....

M-Audio has released MidAir a wireless MIDI transmitter and receiver system. {width=“460” height=“250”} The system is also able to synchronize between several performers. I just wish that some of these large companies would start to use OSC one day…

Just learned that it is possible to get auto-completion with the Esc and F5 Keys in all Cocoa applications. Just start typing, hit the button and you will get a list of matches. {width=“193” height=“426”}

Macworld: Mac OS X Hints: Set headphone volume level on Intel Macs If you’ve got a new Intel-powered Mac, here’s a feature you may not have even known you had. For years, all Macs have had the ability to have different volume levels for different inputs. Plug in a USB-powered iMic, for instance, and you can set its output volume level independently of that of your internal speakers.