Remains of the Day: More Swine Flu Mashups Edition [For What It's Worth]

 

 

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Remains of the Day: More Swine Flu Mashups Edition [For What It's Worth]

via Lifehacker by Adam Pash on 4/29/09

We keep an eye on the spread of swine flu, Facebook comes to your desktop, and Larry Lessig gets a DMCA takedown notice from Warner Music.

• Mapping the swine flu outbeak
  We already showed you one Google Maps mashup tracking the swine flu spread, but Google's rounding up several—including this fancy-pants version. [Google LatLong Blog]
• Yahoo's Zimbra Desktop 1.0 released
  Zimbra Desktop is now available for your offline/online email experience—but it's done little to excite us. You? [Webware]
• Improvements to AutoPlay
  A few changes to AutoPlay aims to slow down malware distribution. [Engineering Windows 7 via Lifehacker AU]
• Excel Formula Errors - Understand and Debug Them
  A quick cheatsheet for understanding what went wrong in your spreadsheet and why you're staring at 100 cells that say #REF!.
• Facebook Desktop for Adobe AIR
  Facebook releases a dedicated desktop application for Adobe AIR (all platforms) so FB junkies can get their fix in a dedicated app. [Facebook via ReadWriteWeb]
• Not Smart: Warner Music Issues DMCA Takedown On Larry Lessig Presentation
  Larry Lessig—probably fair uses' biggest benefactor—gets a DMCA takedown notice from Warner Music for a presentation he'd uploaded to YouTube. [TechDirt]

 

 

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At least nine cars submerged near I-10 and Beltway

 

 

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At least nine cars submerged near I-10 and Beltway

via KHOU.com Local News on 4/28/09

After dawn, emergency crews began searching for people who may have been trapped as rain waters rose beneath I-10 and the Beltway.

 

 

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Secession talk just the beginning as Perry targets Obama

Perry is an utter ass. 

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Secession talk just the beginning as Perry targets Obama

Gov. Rick Perry will moderate a forum Monday on President Barack Obama's first 100 days.

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Civil War is Brewing as Pakistan to Prepare Attack on Taliban

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Civil War is Brewing as Pakistan to Prepare Attack on Taliban

Nuclear fears prompt Pakistan to prepare attack on Taleban - Times Online

The Taliban are relentless and the Pakistani's may not have the will power to stop them. They already gave them concessions rather than resistance.

Thousands of Pakistani troops were massing for an assault on Taleban positions 65 miles from the country's capital last night after giving the insurgents 24 hours to withdraw from their advanced positions or face attack.

The threat of force follows a stern warning from American policymakers that Islamabad was doing too little to stem a growing militant insurgency.

---

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PBS Combines Video Offerings in One Pretty Package [Streaming Television]

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PBS Combines Video Offerings in One Pretty Package [Streaming Television]

PBS has consolidated all of its programs offering streaming video into one slick, probably Hulu-inspired portal, letting anyone search, browse by show or topic, and flip through episodes as with a deck of cards.

You'll find many years worth of PBS archives from shows like Frontline, Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Julia Child's inspired cooking work, and many more. That isn't everything, and some programs, like Ken Burns' The National Parks, will limit viewing within a time frame around the PBS airing. But it's still a nice addition to the list of TV providers wising up to the ways of web video. You'll see commercials and banner ads around the site, but they're of the same "sponsored by" variety you've come to expect from public radio and television.

PBS Video [via Bits/New York Times]

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CometDocs Converts Between More than 50 File Types [Conversion]

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CometDocs Converts Between More than 50 File Types [Conversion]

We know of one or two sites (or many more, actually) that provide file conversions between PDFs, Word documents, and a few other files. CometDocs takes the all-in-one approach, supporting more than 50 file types.

That's a pretty catchy selling point in itself—you can convert PDFs to Excel files, huge TIFF images to PDF, icon files into images, and the site even does a little OCR work on certain image-to-text conversions, and the results were comparable with PDF to Word Converter. But the simple-to-use site also can take almost any file type that's lost an extension and tell you what kind it is, as well as compare two different text or document files and return the text lines where they're different. It can pull the ID3 tags off an MP3, convert an HTML file into an RSS feed, and, well, hit the "FAQ" tab below to see what else it can do.

The site's disclaimer says it will never rent or sell your email address. Signing up with an email and password gives you a "Premium Account," though it's not really spelled out what that offers over CometDocs' free conversions. Thanks Martha!

CometDocs

<...

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Google Profiles Give You Control Over What Google Says About You [Online Identity]

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Google Profiles Give You Control Over What Google Says About You [Online Identity]

We've always preached about the importance of having a say in what Google says about you, but today Google's making it easier by integrating your Google profile directly in search results.

Last week we pointed out that the new Google Profile page comes complete with a custom URLs designed to make it easy for people to find your profile. Apparently that was a first step in bringing more prominence to your Google profile; as of today, those profile pages will start appearing on the first page of Google search results.

The explanation we got when we talked to the folks at Google: Google has always been about information. In this case, searching for a person in Google has always been a bit of a black hole—particularly when you have a common name or share a name with someone famous enough to dominate page after page of results. The new profile integration will fix these problems and make it easier to find someone via Google—or at least that's the idea.

When we asked the obvious question—whether this was Google's first serious step toward competing with Facebook—we were told that it is not (not that they would have laid out their plans either way). As is, though, Google profile pages certainly don't tread too much into the social networking realm. What they do is create a personal homepage from which you can link to all of your important information—like your blog, your nameplate site, your Flickr account, or anything else online that represents you.

If you want to search Google profiles specifically, just point your browser to Google Profiles Search and plug in the name of the person you're looking for. One additional feature for Google profiles: If you were to simply Google "me", you'll get instructions on how to create and build out your own profile. (It's sort of like how "me" always denotes your email in Gmail.)

Search for &qu...

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Katrina lawsuit blaming feds heads to court on Monday

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Katrina lawsuit blaming feds heads to court on Monday

A federal judge in New Orleans will on Monday hear what attorneys call "the last case standing" against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for its alleged failure to protect New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters nearly four years ago.

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Galveston residents worry about long term exposure from leftover Ike sediment

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Galveston residents worry about long term exposure from leftover Ike sediment

Studies have found arsenic in the sediment on Galveston Island after Hurricane Ike, but there could be other toxic chemicals in the soil.

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CIA employees won't be tried for waterboarding

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CIA employees won't be tried for waterboarding

President Barack Obama said Thursday that CIA officials who used harsh interrogation tactics during the Bush administration will not be prosecuted.

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Funnyman Colbert gets less lofty namesake - USATODAY.com

Someone thought you might be interested in the following story on
USATODAY.com:

Funnyman Colbert gets less lofty namesake
http://usat.me/?34768688

To view the story, click the link or paste it into your browser.

Copyright 2009, USATODAY.com

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Twitter plays whack-a-worm over the weekend [Updated]

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Twitter plays whack-a-worm over the weekend [Updated]

Throughout the Easter weekend, and continuing this morning, the staff at Twitter has been trying to quell an outbreak of a computer worm created by the 17-year-old owner of a social-media Web site. The worm, which puts a link to...

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Tweet from Guy Kawasaki (@guykawasaki)

http://twitter.com/guykawasaki/status/1511548842

"Killer Kitty: How to tell if your cat is plotting to murder you http://adjix.com/c4a9
AC"
- Guy Kawasaki (@guykawasaki)

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Six Best Portable Operating Systems [Hive Five]

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Six Best Portable Operating Systems [Hive Five]

Why restrict yourself to merely carrying around your data on a thumb drive? Take your entire operating system on your flash drive with the excellent portable operating systems you'll find inside this week's Hive Five.

Photo by Marcin Wichary.

Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite portable operating system and to tell us what makes it dear to your heart. You responded with hundreds of nominations, and we're back with the top six contenders for the title of best portable operating system. Six contenders in a Hive Five contest? Due to a tie within the top five contenders, a sixth contender has squeezed into the race.

Puppy Linux

Puppy Linux doesn't require the kind of liposuction required by the meatier operating systems in the Hive Five in order to fit into a nice portable package. Weighing in at under 100MB, it can easily be loaded on everything from a CD to a USB drive with little fuss. The user interface is friendly even for a non-Linux user, and the basic tools you need for popular portable operations like partitioning and file recovery are readily available—although it's just as great for web browsing and basic computing. We've already taken Puppy Linux for a walk, so check it out if you want a closer look at this friendly portable OS.

Slax

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Set Up a Computer for Kids with Qimo [Kids]

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Set Up a Computer for Kids with Qimo [Kids]

Looking for a simple way for a young child to use your computer without messing everything up? Qimo is a lightweight, kid-focused Ubuntu distribution you can install or boot from a CD or thumb drive.

Qimo was designed by a husband and wife team in Florida, for their charity Quinn Co. The charity specializes in refurbishing donated computers to serve low-income and special needs children. As a result, Qimo is designed to run easily on low end hardware: the minimum requirements are a 400Mhz processor, 256MB of RAM, and a 6GB hard drive if you choose to install it instead of booting from the LiveCD.

The included programs are organized on the application dock with large, easy to navigate icons. Included with the distribution are a variety of programs including TuxPaint, eToys, and GCompris. Qimo is an excellent candidate for giving some life to an aging laptop or desktop and helping the kids in your life get comfortable using computers. If you have your own tips, tricks, or operating systems to suggest for turning a computer into a kid-friendly play space, sound off in the comments below.

Qimo [via DownloadSquad]

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http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2009/04/google_in_the_m.php

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Tweet from Reg Saddler (@zaibatsu)

http://twitter.com/zaibatsu/status/1504656244

"ALERT: Twitter Vulnerability: Mutating Fast and More on the Way http://bit.ly/MX6DR
PLZ RT"
- Reg Saddler (@zaibatsu)

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http://www.thetechnewsblog.com/2009/04/12/2nd-twitter-virus-worm-in-24-hours-mickeyy/

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Recommended photo gallery from USATODAY.com

Someone thought you might be interested in the following photo gallery
on USATODAY.com:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/gallery/day/flash.htm

To view the gallery, click the link or paste it into your browser.

Copyright 2009, USATODAY.com

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Free Music Archive Puts Thousands of Royalty-Free Songs Up for Grabs [Free]

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Free Music Archive Puts Thousands of Royalty-Free Songs Up for Grabs [Free]

Need a worry-free background track for a multimedia project, or just some new tunes to work into your daily mix? The Free Music Archive, a project of indie freeform station WFMU, has downloads and streams galore.

Inspired by the ideas and ethos behind Creative Commons licensing, the tracks on the FMA are offered for whatever use you want. Use them to soundtrack your latest YouTube epic, remix them and release them, or download and share them with friends. The site also boasts a kind of quality control to the database of songs both live and recoded, selected by WFMU's audio archivists and curators. The search functionality works pretty well, and can be re-sorted by genre, album, or other criteria.

If you really dig the tunes you're finding, there are links to the artists' albums and a tip jar for each. Otherwise, stream, grab, and go at your leisure. Free to use, sign-up required for the social aspects of the site, like mix publishing and sharing.

Free Music Archive [via ReadWriteWeb]

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Updated: Conficker stirs, begins sharing a payload

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Updated: Conficker stirs, begins sharing a payload

The Conficker worm may have remained quiet on April 1, the day it changed the way it communicated with its masters on the Net, but now it has begun receiving data and sharing it among its infected legions. Researchers aren't...

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