Now reading this you must be getting worried if you havent started Xmas shopping yet?!
Theres so much to choose from its daunting. If you cant handle the shops how bout trying shopping on line. The choices are huge here too.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
"Fearless 14" sleeps to Xmas
Now reading this you must be getting worried if you havent started Xmas shopping yet?!
Theres so much to choose from its daunting. If you cant handle the shops how bout trying shopping on line. The choices are huge here too.
There are a few fakes around this Xmas, notes that is
How to spot a fake $50 bill
Police say counterfeiters are targeting the busy pre-Christmas shopping period with a flood of fake $50 bills - here's how to spot one.
And in the Christmas shopping rush, the high-quality forgeries have begun to show up in wider Melbourne, including Albert Park, Richmond, Prahran, Frankston and Chelsea. Senior Constable Joe Logan, of South Melbourne police station, has collected about 15 fakes in his investigation, some of which are now in the hands of the federal police.
The bills are made using a high-definition printer.
"The colour is good, the cutting is good, the printing is pretty good, but they are paper and that's the distinct difference," he said, crumpling a forgery in his hand.
"If it stays folded like that then it is paper, but the plastic notes tend to spring back into their form."
However, those who suspect a fake should not crumple it; store it in a bag so any fingerprints are preserved for police.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
15 days to go
and Santa visits Altona Library for Storytime tomorrow Thursday @ 10.30am
He's had a busy week visiting everyone
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Blogs are replacing the mainstream media
An interesting read from the Age today
Ten prophecies for the digital millennium
From Perspectives by Graeme Philipson
The Age
December 9, 2008
A summary of the main trends in IT, from the rise of the supernet to the threat posed by intelligent machines.
Recently I was asked to speak at a conference about what's going to happen in IT predictions in the next 10 years. It's always hard to tell the future, but here goes anyway - 10 predictions, in no particular order. I have mentioned most of these ideas in various columns during the past year or two. So treat this, my last column for the year, as sort of a summary of what I believe to be the trends in IT as we near the end of the first decade of the digital millennium.
1. The internet will become the "supernet"
The internet has been around since 1969, but it's only 15 years since it has become the web - easy to use, easy to navigate, with billions of web pages and billions of users.
We have already reached the point at which most devices connected to the internet are mobile - phones, cars, even household appliances. That trend will continue, with the move to "embedded computing", where the internet links objects as well as general-purpose computers.
2. The decline of the PC
This is a consequence of the first prediction. PCs will not die - indeed, they will become massively more powerful, but they will become only one of many types of computing device. Mobile phones and "thin clients" will be much more popular ways of connecting to the supernet.
3. The rise of software as a service
Again, a consequence of the rise of other types of computing device. Data and processing and applications are moving off fixed computers - or even mobile computers - and on to the web.
This is increasingly being called "cloud computing" as all processing takes place in the "cloud" that is the internet. An important example is the craze for "software as a service", in which applications reside elsewhere and are accessed through a web browser.
4. The decline of copyright
Regular readers of this column will know this is a hobbyhorse of mine. Copyright and most intellectual property laws are now an anachronism. Attempts by record companies and film studios and book publishers to stop people copying digital media are doomed to failure.
Technology is forcing big changes to business models.
5. The greening of IT
Computers contribute about as much to carbon emissions as do aircraft - about 2per cent of the world's total. Many users and vendors are working out clever ways to reduce this figure - virtualisation, data centre consolidation, thin clients and telecommuting. All worthy stuff. But the real greening of IT comes when the power of information systems is harnessed to increase efficiencies throughout the organisation, in logistics, in manufacturing and in power distribution. IT is also an integral part of the carbon footprint monitoring and measuring process.
6. The threat from intelligent machines
Look up "The Singularity" in Wikipedia or somewhere. The term, invented by American writers Vernor Vinge and Ray Kurzweil, refers to the time in the near future when machines become more intelligent than humans and start replicating themselves. Who then will be the dominant life form on the planet?
7. Increased importance of technology for the aged
The population is ageing. The proportion of people disabled by the illnesses of old age is growing rapidly. Digital technology has a big role to play in helping people live independently and in keeping them out of expensive and soulless institutions.
The rise of so-called "e-health" is a big trend in this direction - use of technology to remotely monitor people's vital signs, to provide diagnoses at a distance and to supplement communications systems.
8. The decline of IT as a speciality
A hundred years ago it seems someone predicted that if telephony job opportunities continued to grow at the same rate, within a generation everybody in the world would be a telephone operator. Well, with automatic dialling, everyone is. Somebody else once predicted a similar thing about computer programmers. Today we all program computers, by the very act of using them. There are fewer specialists, but many more generalists.
9. The death of newspapers
Newspapers as we know them are in decline. Are you reading this in hard copy or online? Around the world, newspapers are shutting down or moving to the web. Blogs are replacing the mainstream media.
The profession of journalism, and the way we consume media and get our news, is being transformed. I'm not sure whether this is a good or bad thing, but there's no doubt it's happening.
10. The growth of internet TV
TV is going digital. At the same time, internet bandwidth is quickly increasing, and most of the data it carries is video.
Many kids simply don't watch TV any more - they download stuff. All sorts of people are offering all sorts of video content on the net, from legitimate TV stations seeking another distribution medium to amateurs on YouTube and elsewhere.
The existing pay TV model of expensive content over a proprietary distribution medium has only a few years left. And "free-to-air" will become "free-to-internet".
Call me at the end of 2018 to see how all this has panned out. And do have a Merry Christmas.
Ten prophecies for the digital millennium
From Perspectives by Graeme Philipson
The Age
December 9, 2008
A summary of the main trends in IT, from the rise of the supernet to the threat posed by intelligent machines.
Recently I was asked to speak at a conference about what's going to happen in IT predictions in the next 10 years. It's always hard to tell the future, but here goes anyway - 10 predictions, in no particular order. I have mentioned most of these ideas in various columns during the past year or two. So treat this, my last column for the year, as sort of a summary of what I believe to be the trends in IT as we near the end of the first decade of the digital millennium.
1. The internet will become the "supernet"
The internet has been around since 1969, but it's only 15 years since it has become the web - easy to use, easy to navigate, with billions of web pages and billions of users.
We have already reached the point at which most devices connected to the internet are mobile - phones, cars, even household appliances. That trend will continue, with the move to "embedded computing", where the internet links objects as well as general-purpose computers.
2. The decline of the PC
This is a consequence of the first prediction. PCs will not die - indeed, they will become massively more powerful, but they will become only one of many types of computing device. Mobile phones and "thin clients" will be much more popular ways of connecting to the supernet.
3. The rise of software as a service
Again, a consequence of the rise of other types of computing device. Data and processing and applications are moving off fixed computers - or even mobile computers - and on to the web.
This is increasingly being called "cloud computing" as all processing takes place in the "cloud" that is the internet. An important example is the craze for "software as a service", in which applications reside elsewhere and are accessed through a web browser.
4. The decline of copyright
Regular readers of this column will know this is a hobbyhorse of mine. Copyright and most intellectual property laws are now an anachronism. Attempts by record companies and film studios and book publishers to stop people copying digital media are doomed to failure.
Technology is forcing big changes to business models.
5. The greening of IT
Computers contribute about as much to carbon emissions as do aircraft - about 2per cent of the world's total. Many users and vendors are working out clever ways to reduce this figure - virtualisation, data centre consolidation, thin clients and telecommuting. All worthy stuff. But the real greening of IT comes when the power of information systems is harnessed to increase efficiencies throughout the organisation, in logistics, in manufacturing and in power distribution. IT is also an integral part of the carbon footprint monitoring and measuring process.
6. The threat from intelligent machines
Look up "The Singularity" in Wikipedia or somewhere. The term, invented by American writers Vernor Vinge and Ray Kurzweil, refers to the time in the near future when machines become more intelligent than humans and start replicating themselves. Who then will be the dominant life form on the planet?
7. Increased importance of technology for the aged
The population is ageing. The proportion of people disabled by the illnesses of old age is growing rapidly. Digital technology has a big role to play in helping people live independently and in keeping them out of expensive and soulless institutions.
The rise of so-called "e-health" is a big trend in this direction - use of technology to remotely monitor people's vital signs, to provide diagnoses at a distance and to supplement communications systems.
8. The decline of IT as a speciality
A hundred years ago it seems someone predicted that if telephony job opportunities continued to grow at the same rate, within a generation everybody in the world would be a telephone operator. Well, with automatic dialling, everyone is. Somebody else once predicted a similar thing about computer programmers. Today we all program computers, by the very act of using them. There are fewer specialists, but many more generalists.
9. The death of newspapers
Newspapers as we know them are in decline. Are you reading this in hard copy or online? Around the world, newspapers are shutting down or moving to the web. Blogs are replacing the mainstream media.
The profession of journalism, and the way we consume media and get our news, is being transformed. I'm not sure whether this is a good or bad thing, but there's no doubt it's happening.
10. The growth of internet TV
TV is going digital. At the same time, internet bandwidth is quickly increasing, and most of the data it carries is video.
Many kids simply don't watch TV any more - they download stuff. All sorts of people are offering all sorts of video content on the net, from legitimate TV stations seeking another distribution medium to amateurs on YouTube and elsewhere.
The existing pay TV model of expensive content over a proprietary distribution medium has only a few years left. And "free-to-air" will become "free-to-internet".
Call me at the end of 2018 to see how all this has panned out. And do have a Merry Christmas.
16 days to go
Are you going to miss Santas @ Willy Library today thats OK
you can catch him @ Story time tomorrow Wednesday @ Altona Meadows Library
Have you solved that Kris Kringle problem yet, how bout something home made, home crafted, home made chocolates Katie would love that idea.
Onto a more serious note, K@Willy had the fruit fly man come again this morning to spray the trees as bait for fruit fly, a goood cause to eradicate fruit fly and save Australias fruit industry soooo if you have fruit trees in your backyard and the fruit fly man comes to spray, check his ID and let him spray your trees. After all if your cooking up that summer fruit for Chrissy prresents you want to know it came from healthy trees.
For more info visit the
Department of Primary Industries website
Monday, December 8, 2008
17 days till santa comes to your place
but hey you can get a sneek preview tomorrow 9th December @ Williamstown library cause
SANTA VISITS STORYTIME
@ 10.30 am
be there , the place to be this Xmas
oh and while your there whisper in Santas ear Im sure he's got lots of ideas for your Kris Kringle
Sunday, December 7, 2008
18 days to go how bout a techno toy
The humble mouse is about to get caught in the technology trap
Claudine Beaumont London.
December 6, 2008
FORTY years ago, the computer mouse made its first public appearance at a technology gathering in San Francisco.
The device was the brainchild of Doug Engelbart and his team at Stanford Research Institute in California who were looking for a new way to control their computers. Before the mouse scrolled its way on to the scene, they had been using light pens similar to those favoured by radar operators during the war.
The team tried several devices, but the mouse proved to be the best. "The mouse won in every category (of tests)," recalled Mr Engelbart. "It was faster, and people made fewer mistakes with it."
No one remembers who began calling the wooden device a "mouse", but the name stuck, and the gadget went on to be one of the most significant developments in the history of computing. Apple was the first company to take the idea to the mass market, but it was Microsoft that developed an entire operating system around the mouse and cemented its place.
For years, the mouse has been the pre-eminent computer controller. While the rubbery trackball may have made way for infrared sensors, its ease of use has guaranteed ubiquity. This week, Logitech, one of the biggest producers in the world, announced it had made its billionth device.
But the mouse could find its days numbered as manufacturers and software developers seek ways of simplifying the interaction between people and technology. Some experts say that within 10 years the mouse could be consigned to the scrapheap as computer users turn to touchscreens and gesture recognition.
Foremost among the successors of the mouse are touchscreens. Everything from mobile phones and personal multimedia players to computers now feature the technology, and devices such as the Apple iPhone have brought what was previously an expensive specialist technology to a wider audience. Some PC manufacturers have already started to introduce touchscreen interfaces.
Face and gesture recognition is the ultimate goal for developers seeking a way to translate gestures into a precise means of controlling objects. The average digital camera offers clever features, such as face recognition and blink and smile detection to help create photos. But the software that enables a relatively basic device such as a camera to discern facial expressions could be put to use on a larger scale. It won't be long before TVs are operated by our hands and eye movements. Panasonic already has a prototype home entertainment system that can respond to gestures by changing the volume or bringing up the program guide.
Games consoles, such as the Nintendo Wii, have used gesture recognition to great effect, and are helping people grow used to the idea of making precise movements using wireless, motion-sensitive devices. A company called Oblong Industries is working on a set of gloves, similar to those used by Tom Cruise in the film Minority Report, to control computers.
It may sound like science fiction, but manufacturers are already working on devices that can translate thoughts into actions. The Emotiv Epoc headset allows players to control computer games using expressions and emotions.
Courtesy The Age online
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