Ubuntu Tips n Tricks

Weekly Ten (4-12-2010)

Posted: 12 Apr 2010 07:49 AM PDT

10 Latest News, Blogs, Tips, and Reviews that I find Interesting and Useful:

1. Why a Bad Economy Is the Best Time to Start a Business

While researching my latest book, Viral Loop, an in-depth look at how companies like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Skype and others grew so big so fast, it occurred to me that each of them was founded when the economy was flat, bad, or worse, in recession. I suppose that describes virtually any company founded since the dot com bust, but what's interesting is that it also characterizes some of the most successful companies in history, some that trace their roots back more than a century.
More @ TechCrunch

2. Crowdsourcing: Cell Phones That Protect Against Deadly Chemicals?

Do you carry a cell phone? Today, chances are it's called a "smartphone" and it came with a three-to-five megapixel lens built-in -- not to mention an MP3 player, GPS or even a bar code scanner. This 'Swiss-Army-knife' trend represents the natural progression of technology -- as chips become smaller/more advanced, cell phones absorb new functions.
More @ ScienceDaily

3. Google Earth helps discover rare hominid ancestor in South Africa

Today, scientists announced a new hominid fossil discovery in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site in South Africa. The discovery is one of the most significant palaeoanthropological discoveries in recent times, revealing at least two partial hominid skeletons in remarkable condition, dating to between 1.78 and 1.95 million years. We are especially excited because Google Earth played a role in its discovery.
More @ Googleblog

4. Convert an early 60s Polaroid to modern film

More @ HackaDay

5. The Motley Crew Collection of Backup Schemes and Devices

Back in the olden days tape backups ruled. I never did like tape. It took too long, it was noisy, and restores were painfully slow. Most backup software was operating-system dependent, which made bare-metal restores pure pain. First reinstall the OS, then the backup software, and then if the gods were kind you could actually find and restore your data.
More @ LinuxToday

6. Why Mozilla Needs To Go Into Survival Mode

The writing is on the wall. While Mozilla and its Firefox browser appear to be a very solid institution in the browser market, it is the weakest link with an extremely attractive portion of the browser user base as well. Google is getting more serious about the browser market and Microsoft is apparently getting back into the game as well.
More @ Tom's Hardware

7. Masterpiece: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Ars Technica is happy to debut a new series of articles celebrating games that are nearly perfect, or that mark a major turning point in the industry. We'll be updating irregularly, and our choices are bound to get people talking. Our first pick? Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
More @ ArsTechnica

8. Eric Schmidt spreading word of an Android-based Google tablet, HP building one as well?

More @ Engadget

9. People of Lava Want to Put a Big Android in Your Living Room

Android is not just for smartphones anymore -- in fact, a Swedish company has just unveiled the first Android-based TV. "This highlights the continued use of Linux and open source for embedding software in all kinds of devices, from mobile phones -- where Android is having traction and impact -- to set-top boxes and, as we see here, in TVs and other electronics," added Jay Lyman, an analyst with the 451 Group.
More @ LinuxInsider

10. 10 More Common Faults in Human Thought

This list is a follow up to Top 10 Common Faults in Human Thought. Thanks for everyone's comments and feedback; you have inspired this second list! It is amazing that with all these biases, people are able to actually have a rational thought every now and then. There is no end to the mistakes we make when we process information, so here are 10 more common errors to be aware of.
More @ Listverse