If you are not a software developer and just want to add something geeky to your resume, then you’d probably love the idea of signing up for Code Year. So just how does signing up for Code Year up your geekiness level?

Code Year participants, who are exactly 341,648 people as of this writing, are sent interactive programming lessons every Monday, which they are expected to complete within the week. So far the topics finished have are “Getting Started with Programming” and “Functions in Javascript”. Note that all of the lessons assume that you have no background in programming, so you shouldn’t be afraid that they would be too difficult for you. If anything, they might be a tad to easy for you if you already have some background in programming.

So why is it again that you should sign up for Code Year? Frankly, I don’t know. To each his own. Some might want to sign up for the fun, some to learn something new, and some because they want a taste of programming to see if they would maybe like to someday really get into programming. Whatever your reasons are (and one of mine is to gain better appreciation of what my husband does on a daily basis), you can bet that you’ll learn something new if only you give it a try.

Veteran programmer already? Then Code Year is definitely not for you, but maybe you can spread the word and have your non-programmer friends try it out.

Image via CodeYear

Back when I first encountered VNC, the iPad still hadn’t arrived on the scene and revolutionized the mobile industry. That meant that my hubby had to use the other PC in the house to play a joke on me. Just a few days ago though, my netbook started “acting weird”, and since my husband had no PC he can use to prank me with I really thought something was wrong with my touchpad. Then I realized he was happily grinning while “playing” with my son’s iPad, which of course instantly made me suspicious. My suspicions proved well founded because you can now apparently download VNC Viewer on your iPad and iPhone, a fact that I’ve overlooked for more than a year now.

If you haven’t hear of VNC Viewer, then you probably have no idea how to use it for a prank.  VNC is, as its developers RealVNC puts it, a “remote control software which allows you to view and fully interact with one computer desktop (the “VNC server”) using a simple program (the “VNC viewer”) on another computer desktop anywhere on the Internet.” In short, if you have ReaVNC installed and activated on a computer, whether it be a desktop or laptop, you can peek into what’s happening on that workstation and control what’s being done there (i.e. move the mouse cursor around) using the VNC Viewer on another device including your iOS and Android mobile devices. Obviously, VNC was designed for more productive purposes, but just think of the endless possibilities for pranks you can pull on non-techie people!

Happy pranking!

The influx of the idea of robots in society has drawn various reactions. But among them, it seems like security and programming has been the most notable issue above all. Humans play God in creating them and from all indications, it shall man who will be at the top of things as well unless robots would be able to develop their own ways of thinking and feelings.

There are various automations that are in use today and these are close to indications of technology slowly rising to the occasion and making life easier for people. However, robots are another issue since it would all depend on how they would be used and for what purpose they shall be once they are introduced to society along side the human race.

The DVD to iPad converter rips the audio and video files from the CD to the iPad. It can convert MP4, MPEG-4, H.264 videos and MP3, AAC and M4A audios. When extracting the files from DVD to iPad, the file are ripped at the best resolution so that the you, the viewer, enjoys the same listening and watching pleasure you would get from watching the film on a DVD player.

This program has amazing editing features. If you want to watch the first half of the movie, you can split the DVD movie and convert the video segment into the iPad. In addition, you can capture movie stills, preview other DVD movies, and even customize conversion parameters so that that movie being converted doesn’t take up too much memory space. The actual converting of files from DVD to iPad can cover up multiple files in the movie at one time. In other words, you don’t have to worry about transferring each file from the DVD one at a time. The program allows you to do the transfers per batch.

While such is a given, there are people who can give their two cents worth of opinions and stored knowledge as well. This all stems from these individuals who have put emphasis on certain areas of interest that include electronics, travel and history. Not all people are expected to invest such effort and time since every individual would want to cater to a lot of things with nothing particular to specialize in.

Ideally, such knowledge from people which are tagged geeks at some time would go as far as holding technical information such as content, components and workflow processes. Such areas are not given much attention in the normal phase of life. But such are investments to which one day; such stored and solicited knowledge shall be of big use towards other people and big entities who seek better knowledge as well.

Software applications have little bearing on the burning output of a compiled project. Nero and Roxio, two of the better known burning software today, contains such features of CD burning. People would rely largely on the default setting, the default of which is the maximum writing speed of a DVD/ CD writer drive. The usual speeds offer 12X, 32X, 54X and 72X among others.

Compatibility once the project has been successfully compiled will always be the next area for consideration. A burned CD that fails to play would usually be over-burned or be linked to compatibility issues with the independent player being used. Ideally, the default speed for conservative burning is 12X or the maximum speed of the drive is capable of.

According to reports, it is going to be a dark and gritty game that people will compare to Bioshock. There are still no firm dates on when the game is going to be released.

There has been speculation on the move but Microsoft has again expresses it’s willingness to negotiate and talk with these so-called investors on their stand not to sell. Microsoft has taken this stand way back in the early days of the company when the budding company released Windows as their own gamble in the upcoming personal computer market software boom. With rumors or facts circulating within the industry that the said operating systems which we all know as Windows, was derived from initial work in conjunction with IBM in their OS-Warp series of operating systems which never managed to beat the one released by Microsoft for it beat the industry giant at the initial punch. Microsoft went on to take what it wanted (companies and products) and settled out of court any complainants ending with ownership of either the product or the company itself that made the said products. The conquer and take stance has been known to many in the early days of the Personal computer but has become more and more obscure in today’s world of MP3 players and multi function cellular phones.

The rejection of an industry giant for the offer of Microsoft might provide insight on the company’s future allowing diversity and equal opportunity with all those who partake in the battle that is business. With the economy struggling, the US is said to be already in recession even as the federal government tries to avert such which might be too late and too much out of control. Microsoft, like all US-based companies would have to slow down or trim down it’s ranks to be able to survive this coming economic ‘recession’ which is beginning to take firm hold of the great American Nation.

Some other major manufacturers have been offering similar devices like “SONY” which has a dongle you attach to your digital camera or HD Camera that records positional data alongside the images allowing a digital map or history of when and where they were taken. The data is included with the time-stamp and date-stamp which can be used with proprietary software to create a digital timeline which can also be saved along with the video.

There is already a BUGcommunity that has been hard at work on the functionality and combination aspects of the said BUG system which is a good source of code and programs for developing other modules. This is similar to most open-sourced developing platforms which is fun for the sky is the limit when it comes to the ways the modules can be combined and how a program can utilize all of the said modules to provide useful information the user desires. More modules are being developed and are to be released in the second quarter of 2008. and one more thing, you need to get hold of Bud System SDK which can be downloaded fro their site.