Noteworthy on the Web- Ars Technica: Google paying users to track 100% of their Web usage via little black boxGoogle is working to collect information about Internet users that it can't get from just monitoring its own browser, services, and Android devices. The company has set up a new program called Screenwise, which offers money to users who install a black box on their home network to "measure Internet... […]casey.johnston@arstechnica.com (Casey Johnston)
- AnandTech: Hitachi Releases Ultrastar SSD400S.B: 25nm SLC NAND Is Here25nm MLC NAND has been in the market for roughly a year now and it is very common in today's consumer SSDs—there are only a few models using 3Xnm MLC NAND (OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS for example). In the enterprise space, however, 25nm SLC NAND is just starting to... […]Kristian Vättö
- Lifehacker: Color Code Audio Outputs with Paper Reinforcement Labels to Find Them Quickly [Clever Uses]Having trouble finding the proper output jack on the back of your computer for your headphones? Instructables user philip42 suggests using a school supply favorite, reinforcement labels, to help you find the right audio jack easier. More » […]Thorin Klosowski
- DPReview News: Sigma DP series reinvented as DP1M and DP2M with 15MPx3 sensor from SD1Sigma has totally reinvented its DP series of large sensor compacts with the DP1 Merrill and DP2 Merrill. The DP Merrill models are named after Dick Merrill, inventor of the Foveon sensor and include the most recent version of his technology - the 15x3MP APS-C sensor first seen in Sigma's... […]DPReview News
- Pop Wuping: Papernomad CasesMade from a special paper formulation that is flame, water and tear resistant (wow!) Papernomad makes a range of cases for the iPad, iPhone and other less interesting devices. I prefer them as is but if you have some illustration talent, or even better your kids do, you can draw... […]Popwuping
- The Brooks Review: ‘Path Uploads Your Entire iPhone Address Book to Its Servers’Arun Thampi:Upon inspecting closer, I noticed that my entire address book (including full names, emails and phone numbers) was being sent as a plist to Path. Now I don’t remember having given permission to Path to access my address book and send its contents to its servers, so... […]BenBrooks
- Ars Technica: Google (finally) brings Chrome to AndroidGoogle is finally bringing Chrome to the Android platform. A beta releaseof the increasingly popular Web browser was published this morning in the Android Market and is available to users who are running Android 4. The port includes Chrome's advanced HTML rendering engine and many of the browser's popular... […]segphault@arstechnica.com (Ryan Paul)
- The Register: USER-TRACKING Firefox sparks Mozilla civil warDevs spar over user ID numbers in phone-home Telemetry code Mozilla coders are arguing among themselves about the open-source outfit's Telemetry project, which was designed to monitor Firefox usage metrics. Several coders in the Mozilla camp have expressed concern about how some developers are proposing Telemetry should collect data from... […]The Register
- The Consumerist: What's On The Menu? The Chef's Specially Smushed Together Meat Glue SteakLook at that nice, pink cut of beef, cooked rare for your steak-gobbling pleasure. Now look a little closer and hey! It could be just smushed together pieces of diced beef, bound with something called "meat glue." Not so appetizing now, eh? Komo Newsreports on a new, slightly troubling... […]Mary Beth Quirk
- Better Living Through Design: Unique Nail FileNail files aren’t a favorite subject in design, for obvious reasons. They’re throw away items that we wouldn’t give a second thought, or at least they were before this little item. It’s made from natural stone from the Pyrenees Mountains and will never wear out. That’s right, never. There’s... […]Katie
- Acquire: Zenith Montre d’Aeronef Type 20Zenith tips its hat to the classic pilot watches of yesteryear with the Montre d'Aeronef Type 20, a massive 57.5mm watch encased in Grade 5 titanium which is to be released in a limited run of 250 pieces. The classically styled timepiece houses Zenith's Caliber 5011, a manual wound movement... […]Acquire
- DPReview News: Canon renews full-frame lenses with 24-70mm F2.8 II and stabilized wide-angle primesCanon has released three EF lenses, including an updated 24-70mm F2.8 II USM. The latest version features what is promised to be a more durable body, despite being a little smaller. In addition to this high-end full-frame standard zoom, there are completely redesigned semi-fast 24mm and 28mm F2.8 primes, both... […]DPReview News
- DPReview News: Just Posted: Nikon D800 hands-on previewWe've had some time with a pre-production D800 and have prepared a detailed in-depth preview. Nikon's latest DSLR boasts core technology borrowed from the top-end D4, married with a 36.3MP CMOS sensor that comfortably eclipses the rest of the DSLR market in resolution terms. As well as first impressions of... […]DPReview News
- DPReview News: Nikon D800 and D800E 36MP full-frame DSLRs announcedNikon has announced the D800 and D800E 36MP full-frame DSLRs. The pixel count of the long-awaited replacement for the D700 means it also trumps the D3X as the highest-resolution camera in Nikon's lineup. As well as the 'stock' D800, Nikon has also revealed a more expensive model, the D800E that... […]DPReview News
- Ars Technica: Google to strip Chrome of SSL revocation checkingGoogle's Chrome browser will stop relying on a decades-old method for ensuring secure sockets layer certificates are valid after one of the company's top engineers compared it to seat belts that break when they are needed most. The browser will stop querying CRL, or certificate revocation lists, and databases that... […]dan.goodin@arstechnica.com (Dan Goodin)
- Fraser Speirs: Digital Exams on the iPadIt's prelim week at Cedars. In Scotland, pupils with additional needs can use a “Digital Question Paper” to complete their exam. A DQP is a PDF with embedded forms. The pupil sits at a computer and fills in the form to answer the questions. For exams involving graphs, equations or... […]Fraser Speirs
- In the Pipeline: Glass Structure, Atom by AtomFor a really stunning electron micrograph of the thinnest possible layer of glass, see here. (If you don't have journal access, here's a release with some details). What's even more striking is that the semi-random arrangement of atoms is basically an exact match of a hypothesisfrom 1932 by... […]In the Pipeline
- Carryology: Carry Candy :: Hard Graft 3FoldCarry Candy :: Hard Graft 3Fold This is quite the Carry Candy piece. Anything that comes in at this price level is def candy you ain’t going to be eating anytime soon. Andrew Tsui gives us his thoughts on the 3Fold in a semi drive by/carry candy style post, either... […]Leather
- Monday Note: Strange Facebook EconomicsTweetExactly three years ago, Charlie Rose interviewed Marc Andreessen, the creator of Netscapeand Facebook board member. In his trademark rapid-fire talk, Marc shared his views on Facebook. (Keep the February 2009 context in mind: the social network had 175 million users and Microsoft had just made an investment... […]Frédéric Filloux
- Lifehacker: Frozen Garlic and Onion Purees Save Time and Money [Food Hacks]Some people end up buying and peeling an onion and a head of garlic when they only need a portion of that for their recipe and end up tossing the rest, only to need it again a few days later. Freezing a puree of garlic, onion, and olive oil means... […]David Galloway
- Ars Technica: Google paying users to track 100% of their Web usage via little black box
Category Archives: Python
Clearing custom crop aspect ratios in Lightroom
Lightroom’s crop tool allows you to constrain the aspect ratio to a proportion of your choice, e.g. to 4:3, defaulting to the same aspect ratio as the original. The last 5 or so custom crop aspect ratios are saved, but … Continue reading
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Just enough Weave
Note: I am keeping this code around for historical purposes, but it has not worked since Weave 1.0 RC2. I created this because Mozilla’s public sync servers were initially quite unreliable, but they have remedied the situation and performance problems … Continue reading
Inserting graphviz diagrams in a CVStrac wiki
CVStrac is an amazing productivity booster for any software development group. This simple tool, built around a SQLite database (indeed, by the author of SQLite) combines a bug-tracking database, a CVS browser and a wiki. The three components are fully … Continue reading
A Python driver for the Symbol CS 1504 bar code scanner
One of my cousins works for Symbol, the world’s largest bar code reader manufacturer. The fashionable action today is in RFID, but the humble bar code is relatively untapped at the consumer level. The unexpected success of Delicious Library shows … Continue reading
A reader-writer lock for Python
Python offers a number of useful synchronization primitives in the threading and Queue modules. One that is missing, however, is a simple reader-writer lock (RWLock). A RWLock allows improved concurrency over a simple mutex, and is useful for objects that … Continue reading
Threadframe module version 0.2
After a comments thread on a request in Wilfredo Sanchez’ blog, including valuable contributions by Bob Ippolito, I have updated my threadframe module to leverage new thread tracking functionality added in Python 2.3. The module now allows Python 2.3 users … Continue reading
Data mining Outlook for fun and profit
For a few years now, I have owned the domain name majid.fm. Dot-fm stands for the Federated States of Micronesia, a micro-state in the Pacific Ocean, and they market their domain names to FM radio stations. Those are also my … Continue reading
Debugging DCOracle2 applications
DCOracle2 is the Oracle interface module for Python I use most often. It is advertised as “beta”, but quite suitable for production use, aside from a few minor rough edges. There are a few others, most notably cx_oracle, but I … Continue reading