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Have you ever wanted to make your own web server to host your own site? Be intimidated no more with the help of HowToForge.com and their detailed instructions. Falko Timme wrote up a very informative how to complete with step-by step images. Go ahead and set one up and tell us how it turned out for you.
Read More 
| HowToForge via OSNews
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I just found a nifty visualization hack created by a student at MIT. It’s a graphical map of all of the zip codes in the United States. As you start to type a zip code it highlights possible areas that the zip code is in until it has narrowed down on a single zip code. Make sure to turn on the zoom feature and type in your home zip code. I find it interesting how structured the zip codes are - you can see how they were laid out according to population density quite easily. I can’t wait until someone migrates this from Java toGoogle Maps!
Read More | Zip Code Locator
Everyone can see that technology has become and integrated part of our technology, and a recent study published by PEW paints a very tech-centric picture of the United States in the year 2020. The study published today indicates that 9 out of 10 teenagers (87% between 12-17) are active daily internet users. With this number up from less than 75% in 2000 it’s crystal clear that as todays teenagers grow into tomorrows working class our society is going to approach a 100% daily usage of the internet - both wired and wireless. In the current demographic instant messaging seems to be winning in popularity over email, and I’m sure video and voice chat are going to eclipse instant messaging at some point. As a constantly connected mentality sets in it will be interesting to see how social networking technologies integrate with email, chat, blogs, and as yet un-invented communications tools.
Read More | PEW study (PDF) via Lost Remote
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Yahoo has finally released its toolbar for all Firefox lovers – be it in the Windows, Mac OS X or Linux world. Now we can all enjoy all the benefits our IE neighbors have enjoyed such as having all the Yahoo! content available at a mouse click away (opening in a new tab), adding RSS feeds to My Yahoo!, saving web site links to My Yahoo! (similar to del.icio.us), blocking pop-ups and fighting spyware.
Read More | Yahoo! Toolbar Firefox Download
Okay, we all hate it, but is spam really worth killing someone over? In Russia, the answer is apparently “yes.”
On Sunday, Police in Russia found the body of Vardan Kushnir, 35, who ran an English-language learning centre. Kushnir became infamous in Russia for sending out millions of e-mails daily over the course of the last few years to advertise his school, likely making him the most hated man among nearly 40 million Russian-speaking Internet users worldwide. He was found with his head repeatedly smashed-in and his apartment ransacked. While authorities are saying it is unlikely that it was an anti-spam campaigner who murdered him, there are probably millions of people who would like to think that he got his just deserts.
Read More | mosnews.com
On July 21st, Edwin was on The David Lawrence Show, a radio show that is centered around pop-culture. The topic at hand was Google Maps effect on my traffic ticket and the story behind it. You can read a small overview and listen to the one-hour segment for a whopping twenty-five cents, or you can check out the 10 minute podcast for free. Thanks David, I had a great time.
Read More | The David Lawrence Show
Listen |The David Lawrence Personal Netcast
Are you unhappy with your cell reception? Are you trying to figure out if your new home will have good cell reception? What about the hotel at the resort you are about to head to? Well this new website promises to answer these questions for you. They have obtained information on tower location from the FCC and performed a great Google Maps hack to present you with a birds eye view of any neighborhood and the cell towers it contains. It’s great to see so many Google maps hacks emerging after the API was released by Google. We think interactive web applications like this are going to become very prominent in the near future.
Read More | Cell Reception via BoingBoing
Pheedo, a weblog marketing company, has released a few choice points of data about the way readers use RSS. Highlights from their report include:
- RSS is most active on Tuesdays and least active on Saturdays.
- The most content is viewed early in the morning.
- The most click-throughs occur late at night.
- Bloglines is the most popular RSS reader, with only 5 programs being used to read 70% of RSS feeds.
Pheedo’s posted information represents only an initial analysis of the data they’ve collected over the course of their work with their blogging clients. Pheedo is promising a follow-up program of more formalized reports called “Pheed Reads.” Check back here for more insights as these reports are released.
Read More | Pheedo
Yahoo Buys Konfabulator, Opens Yahoo! Widgets
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Internet, Software,
You know, it was only a matter of time before Konfabulator was snapped up by someone big, and it has finally happened. Yahoo! has bought the product, along with the company behind it - Pixora. Yahoo! didn’t delay on rebranding it as soon as they could, as there is already a Yahoo! Widgets site up and running. They are keeping the product free, and already have the library of PC and Mac widgets available for download. This is a smart move for Yahoo! in our opinion, a great way for them to get back on the desktops of computer users via information delivery.
Read More | Yahoo! Widgets
So this editor just got back from a multi-day camping trip and logged into Google maps to check out some satellite photos of the area I had come from. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Google has managed to improve yet again on their Google maps application by introducing a third option to their map views: Hybrid. The new hybrid view combines a modified satellite image, with the street names transparently laid over the picture. It looks like they used the same technique to put the names and streets on as they use to plot a route in the directions feature -separating the information overlay as a transparent PNG layer is a great technical solution for problems like this. This was a great answer to both the new MSN Virtual Earth application’s similar feature. For a visual person this is an ideal form of map - not only does it let you see the location you are going to, but it shows you what the buildings in the area look like!
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