2009
08.01

CONCEPT ART

One of the most unique and common forms of art on the Internet these days is called concept art.

Concept art is a form of illustration where the main goal is to convey a visual representation of a design, idea, and/or mood for use in movies, video games, animation, or comic books before it is put into the final product.

The concept artist generates a visual design for something that doesn’t yet exist.

Most of these pieces are created with Photoshop as well as using more traditional means such as oil paints, pencils and others. The two most common themes are science fiction and fantasy.

In this post, we take a look at 50 great  examples of concept art that are sure to inspire you and let your imagination run wild.

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2009
07.26

It is almost impossible to capture a speeding bullet with your eye and the impact the bullet creates is even faster and happens within a blink of an eye.

It will be very much interesting to see how the objects look while breaking and shape it takes after hitting with a bullet.

Here are 30 excellent high speed photos of bullets passing through various objects, captured using high speed cameras.

High Speed Bullet Photography 3

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2009
07.26

Always forgetting your thumb drive after you shut down or log off your PC. Only remember it when you have reach sch or office. Use this simple script to create a reminder and you will never leave behind your usb drive at home.

Step 1. Open a Notepad and type this {WScript.Echo “Don’t forget your thumb drive!”}. When you type it in ignore the curly bracket.

Never forget usb driveNever forget usb drive

After that save the file as “thumb-drive-reminder.vbs”

Never forget thumb driveNever forget thumb drive

Step 2. Copy the file to your log off folder. Here is where you can find your log off folder. C:\WINDOWS\system32\GroupPolicy\User\Scripts\Logoff      Remember you need to go to folder option to enable shown hidden file if not you will not be able to see your group policy folder. Go to Tools >> Folder Options >> View >> then select the Show hidden files and folders.

Never forget usb driveNever forget usb drive

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2009
07.26

Have you ever noticed how some people just seem to go with the flow of life, good and bad? And other folks just seem to take (or make) everything harder, having a difficult time dealing with the challenges life throws their way? It’s quite an interesting conundrum, to consider why people fall into one category or the other.

Resiliency is a term I’ve heard used to describe this phenomenon. It refers to a person’s ability to roll with life’s punches, to surrender and accept what is and work with it rather than getting stuck on how they wish things were, or more importantly, denying reality altogether. Those last approaches don’t seem to change anything and they divert valuable energy to resistance rather than moving through and past the issue.

I’ve pondered this quite a bit and have concluded that “surrender and acceptance” is key to cultivating a resilient habit of mind.

I have a friend from long ago who makes Job’s trials and tribulations look like an all-inclusive resort stay at a five-star hotel in Cancun. I mean, between an abusive husband, precarious finances, towering debt and no job, bitter divorce, and much more, she would certainly have had every reason in the world to lapse into a depressive coma and stay there for the rest of her life.

But amazingly, she has a remarkable outlook on life. Maybe it’s just a case of when so many things are so bad, you begin to get grateful for the smallest of things because you know how very bad it could be. I don’t know, but I do know that now things have evened out a bit for her it’s pretty hard these days to faze her with anything.

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2009
07.26

The number system what we use today (1,2,3,4,5…) is called Arabic Numbers System. We also have Roman Numbers System (I, II, III, IV, V, …) which is rarely being used.

Have you ever thought WHY One is 1, Two is 2, Three is 3 … and so on?

It is all because of Angles. Yes, it is the number of angles in each letter.

The following image has ancient Arabic numbers. All the angles that are formed in these letters are mentioned by the letter o.

logic_behind_numbers.gif

The number of angles gives meaning to each letters.

Number 1 has one angle
Number 2 has two angles
Number 3 has three angles
….
and so on.

Observe the letter Zero. It has no angles.

Cool eh?

2009
07.25

Independent consultants and freelancers of all stripes—and many small business owners—must by necessity wear many hats. In a single day you might find yourself standing at a podium offering up your expertise; fixing the printer; balancing the account books; purchasing office supplies; fetching lunch from the deli; and sweeping the floors. Even the most energetic of us sometimes wish we had an assistant, someone to take over the nettlesome little tasks that must be done…but in the doing take so much time. And in business, as we know, time = money.

Here are four services that provide those assistants. Three offer virtual assistants; one offers actual assistants. And while our fifth entry doesn’t provide a service, it does offer a free, time-saving utility.

Timebridge Scheduling Assistant: Scheduling meetings with busy people—trying to find that one day and hour where everybody can meet either virtually or in person—can really be a frustrating mess. But, happily, that’s where Timebridge Scheduling Assistant can come in handy. This innovative web service works across time zones and different calendar systems; it networks calendars to see everybody’s availability, proposes the best time to meet, issues invitations, and collates responses (no calendar details are shown; merely blocks of free and busy time). You can also conference online. Timebridge is free, although its Web meeting feature is not.

uReach: Another helpful service is uReach, a kind of virtual receptionist who handles all your messages, be they email, voice, or fax. All incoming messages go into an inbox, accessible by you from anywhere, and manageable by phone or PC. You’ll get your own toll-free number, making it easy for friends, family, and customers to contact you. A bit more advanced is the Small Business solution, which provides an office PBX system; your callers hear a voice menu that provides personal greetings, call routing, and extension mailboxes. Additional solutions and features can solve a variety of business needs. Price depends on services and ranges from $11.99 to $24.99 per month.

Shoeboxed: If your job takes you on the road, then chances are you’re drowning in business cards, expense reports, and receipts, right? Sure, you keep  meaning to sit down at the scanner and feed everything in, but somehow you never find the time. No problem! You just need a nifty outfit like Shoeboxed to help out. Pop those bits of flotsam and jetsam into the mail, and, after scanning and categorizing them, Shoeboxed will turn the whole shebang into a format of your choosing and deliver it to you in a safe place online. Formats include Excel, Quickbooks, Freshbooks, PDF, Evernote, Quicken, and CSV. Four price tiers range from a limited (DIY) free account to $49.95 per month)

TimeSvr: If you need more office support than Shoeboxed can offer, consider TimeSvr. “We provide virtual assistants to help you save time everyday,” the company’s tagline states, but in fact the assistants are not virtual—they’re actual human beings, equipped with the knowledge and technology to do research, make reservations, etc. TimeSvr Personal, at $69 per month, offers unlimited basic tasks (phone calls, reminders, reservations, and bookings) as well as up to 8 hours per month for more complex tasks (transcribing, long web searches, etc.). TimeSvr Dedicated, at $850 per month, allows you 48 hours per week of personalized attention from an assistant who has a minimum of 3 years experience. If you’re intrigued, TimeSvr offers a no-commitment 3-day trial.

Shinkuro: Last, here’s something nice for the real geeks out there. Shinkuro is a nifty piece of software developed by Steve Crocker, who helped create the original Arpanet protocols—the foundation for today’s Internet—back in the 1960s. Shinkuro allows the secure sharing of files across enterprise boundaries, keeping folder contents on each machine in sync. It uses heavy-duty encryption and authentication to ensure that access is safe and protected. Shinkuro also includes secure instant messaging and secure screen sharing, to give you a complete collaboration environment. Shinkuro’s lightweight technology works easily with all applications, and runs on Windows 2000 and XP, Mac OS X, Linux, and FreeBSD. BTW, the word Shinkuro was imported into the Japanese language some time ago; it means “synchro” or “synchronize.”

2009
07.25

If you’re into designing and need something free yet cool enough to make your designs look good then you have come to the right place. Below are some of the most widely used free

3D Graphic Design Applications for Linux you can download today.

Blender

Blender is a free,

open source 3D content creations suite that not only works with Linux but almost all the other major operating systems as well.

Blender gives you a revolutionary non-overlapping and non-blocking UI which delivers unsurpassed workflow and offers flexible and fully configurable window layout with as many screen setups as you prefer.

blender

It comes with a range of 3D object types including polygon meshes, NURBS surfaces, bezier and B-spline curves, metaballs, vector fonts. Other than that it

features

  • User friendly interface
  • Realtime 3D/Game Creation
  • Modeling
  • Rigging
  • Rendering
  • Animation
  • Shading
  • UV Unwrapping and more
  • Imaging and Compositing

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2009
07.25

COOL QUIET ART

Some random cool art that I have found and I’d like to share it with you:

1813029303_d1f708ad84250898396_cdbeea21ac_o2700371180_c0c720669f_o349715015_842826553c_o351523394_a795e38c99`

2009
07.25

800px-Microsoft_Sign_on_German_campusAs you know, I am an active member of Saudi IT club which is obviously an Information Technology club. Our activity mainly involvled spreading the IT culture trhoughout Saudi Arabia. The club is led by great people and that’s probably the reason why I am a member there and why I am still part of them.Saudi Arabia needs for that kind of things, the population has started to be open to the internet. And to be honest, for some of us and some of you, the internet or the computer can be a fearsom place if you decided to venture through it without a guide. You buy a computer and you put on your home and after few hours of thinking you finally hook it up to your monitor and your keyboard and mouse. During my time working and teaching people at the I.T Club I saw alot of people that were intimidated from the computer.

I remember once seeing an eposide of DR.Phil, where this women was scared of touching the mouse and the screen. She considered that computers are the source of all evil. And that computers were the vechiles of the devils. And that the computer may develop a mind of its own and may attempt of murdering her. People who are scared of this magnificent technological masterpiece DO EXIST.

My point is, that computers & the internet can be really scarey world for some people. And we have alot of those people here in Saudi Arabia. One of our missions in Saudi Information Technology Club is to provide Saudi citizen with guidance that they need to venture fourth into this world of computers.

Anyway, back to our subject. As I said mentioned above that one of our missions is to educate the people about I.T. So we started this summer program for kids (Ages 8 – 14 where we teach children the basics of computers, basic of programming, we also give them an introduction to personal deveopment such as goal settings and time manangement and motivation. We tailored the program so it fits into our students brain so dont worry about saying that it is too much for little kids. Nothing is too much for them, they can understand clearly and I can say that confidently from my experience with them.

Microsoft came and offered us support inexchange of publication, so they gave us 2 free Xboxes so we can use it as prizes or we can run tournaments using it. (When we asked for 5, but since its free, I can only thank and not complain. ) And they also offered us freebies such as USB flashes (They gave us away 120X USB flash) And alot of community service brochures and awareness campaigns. So we used thier files and gave the USB’s to the children so they can save thier data on.

So thank you Microsoft for your support! And a special thanks DR.Mamdoh Al Najjar, Microft’s corporate Social Responsbility Leader.

2009
07.25

WORLD’S FASTEST LAPTOP

It’s been a little over a month since CyberPower claimed the title of “world’s fastest” with their 17” X7-Xtreme S1 laptop, and now Maingear has topped it with their eX-L 18. While I can’t vouch for the validity (or the seriousness) of Maingear’s claims, I can honestly say I haven’t come across any notebooks that match the eX-L 18’s prowess.

Coming in at just under 6-grand, the new contender features an 18.4” 1080p display, an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300, 8GB of DDR3 1333MHz, dual 1GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 280m in SLI, an 80GB Intel X25-M SSD, dual 500GB Seagate Momentus HDDs in RAID 1 and a dual layer Blu-ray burner. The eX-L 18 also houses an Intel PRO/Wireless 5300AGN, a Bluetooth module, HD audio with surround sound, biometric security, a backlit keyboard with a numeric keypad, 7-in-1 card reader, as well as eSATA, HDMI, USB 2.0 and Firewire ports.


As sweet as the base configuration is, $6,000 is a bit steep. I managed to get the system down to $3,917 by dropping the second 500GB HDD and opting for a 500GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue, Core 2 Duo T9600, 4GB of RAM, and a Blu-ray reader instead of a burner. The extra $2k+ worth of components wouldn’t provide much if any noticeable performance to a game – so you’re only sacrificing a bit of data redundancy and/or storage.