Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

While Apple's App Store was far from being the first of its kind, we're now seeing a job posting over in the Redmond area that suggests that Microsoft is looking to produce something similar for its Windows Mobile platform. The news comes hot on the heels of Google's own Android Market announcement, and if the Product Manager position writeup is to be believed, said platform will be christened Skymarket. Described as a "marketplace service for Windows Mobile," Skymarket could seemingly be a critical part of WinMo 7. But don't take our word for it, the proof is the pudding -- or in the read link, in this instance.

[Via The Raw Feed]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

[Cliff Miller] pointed out this incredible project from 2004. [John Pultorak]’s journey began in late 2000 when he decided to build a 60’s or 70’s era minicomputer. While gathering technical documentation, he found some interesting information on the Apollo Guidance Computer and felt that was the way to go. The AGC was the first integrated circuit computer ever built. Designed by MIT in 1964 it was constructed from ~5000 ICs, almost all 3-input NOR gates. [John]’s version uses late 1960’s 74LS TTL logic which gains him a 10 to 1 reduction in the number of ICs. A good thing when you have to do ~15K wirewrap connections. He also used flipflops and register chips instead of building everything from NOR gates. [John] essentially built the AGC three times: First, he coded a simulator in C++. Then, he imported the logic design into CircuitMaker to verify that it would actually work. Finally, he built the 3 by 5foot machine. He’s provided an amazing amount of documentation for anyone that wants to explore this device and the overview alone is well worth a look.

Filed under: Laptops

There are two kinds of Dell rumors: sure things, and ones that aren't sure things. This one falls in the latter camp, so proceed with caution. We've got a tipster who says a friend of his from Dell handed him this shot of what is purportedly a new XPS M1330 / M1530 design. As you can see, pretty much the same old fare... but what's this? A large glossy touchpad? Here's our hunch: Dell is tired of drawing inspiration from Apple after the fact, and decided to turn the tables by capitalizing on one of the most persisten (and outlandish) Apple rumors in existence. A good capacitive touchscreen for the trackpad on a laptop would undoubtedly be a blast if it was done right, with the right software support, and at least seems like a good gimmick. Or maybe it'd just be lame. We won't go further than that, this could just as easily be a Photoshop, but we will be keeping an eye out.

Update: False alarm, turns out this is just a still from an NVIDIA Tegra demo on YouTube. Thanks, shiv, for pointing this out in comments. Boo, tipster, boo.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Labor Day weekend is the time to say an unofficial goodbye to summer, to consistent warm weather, to lighter clothes—and maybe to the job that's holding you back. If you're looking to make the leap into a new gig or an entirely new career this fall, there are several online tools and power tips for every stage of the job-seeking journey. When you hit your desk on Tuesday morning and quietly decide to find your escape hatch from your current position, we've got you covered. Here's a compilation of our tips and techniques for finding a job, putting your best face forward to it, and sticking with a long-haul job hunt. Photo by Here in Van Nuys.

Let RSS and email find the job for you
New jobs would be much easier to find if you didn't have those eight or so hours a day you spend doing your current job. Give yourself a break and set up RSS feeds for any job list site, and get those feeds emailed to you before or after work with our how-to guide.

Shoot for the right salary
Use one or a combination of the popular salary estimating sites, each of which has its strengths and quirks, to shape your answer to the inevitable salary question. Our commenters generally believe you can't stonewall an interviewer if they ask, but you can still see if the employer will throw the first pitch—if you don't mind a small stand-off.

Rebuild your resume
Write down everything you're capable of and then prune it. Avoid the words you've heard other people use on their resumes. Keep it one page, even if it's not, or skip it entirely. There's a lot of advice about a single sheet of paper out there, and for good reason. Check out our compilation of the best tips you didn't already know.

Ace the interview
A true geek doesn't like to show up for things unprepared, and a job interview is a great chance to put some of those hacker-style skills to use. Social networks, subtle hypnosis, 100-day plans—there are many more ways to leave a good impression than knowing what your greatest weakness is.

Restart a stalled search
As Bruce Wayne's father once said, we fall so that we can learn to pick ourselves back up again—geeky reference, but totally applicable to round two of your resume packets. After you're done feeling discouraged, get yourself an expensive-looking suit on the cheap, work your current contacts for better leads, and start writing online about the topics you want to work in. That and more tips in our guide to getting back on your feet.

What job-hunting topics did we skip over entirely? What tech tools or techniques got you hired that don't fall into any common advice categories? Give us your elevator pitch in the comments.

Stained glass adds a hard-to-replicate ambiance to any room, but the stuff sure isn't cheap. One Instructables user has detailed a method for making faux stained glass with a hot glue gun, acrylic glass (also known by its trademark Plexiglas), and whatever paint colors you plan to use. As the commenters at Instructables have noted, it's not a perfect simulation, but the faux stuff can serve as a stand-in for frames missing some glass, or for trying out rough sketches (or goofier ideas) to see how they look as stained glass. While you're at the store, consider adding your own $16 DIY privacy frosting.

Filed under: Cellphones

After what feels like centuries of waiting (and suffering through that painful CeBIT demo), we finally get to see the Meizu M8's OS in action... and it's not as bad as you think. Sure, the interface is totally derivative of the iPhone, and there is that pesky cursor floating around, but all-in-all it looks like the company has managed to knock out a decent -- if incredibly familiar -- UI for its long-delayed phone. Still, there's some low rent hilarity in this video. Our favorites? The smattering of soft porn pictures and video, and Meizu CEO and all-around bon vivant Jack Wong revealed in a reflection... wearing a face mask! Don't believe it? Check the clip after the break (and freeze frame of Mr. Wong).

[Thanks, Patrick P.]

Continue reading A functional Meizu M8 UI, CEO Jack Wong finally caught on video

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

• Top 10 How To Videos
  "Your crafty older relatives used to have to mail-order their video tutorials or wait for "This Old House" reruns to get their DIY on, but the age of streaming video has been good to those who like to tinker and try out neat tricks."
• Forget the iPhone—The iPod Touch is Good Enough
  "Back in June 2007, I couldn't convince my wife that checking my email in grocery lines was worth $1,320—the cost of an original iPhone and one year of the cheapest plan."
• Debunking Common Windows Performance Tweaking Myths
  "One of my biggest pet peeves is the plethora of bad advice littered across almost every web site dedicated to system tweaking. Besides the tweaks that simply don't work, some of them will actually cause your computer to run even slower—or worse."
• Hack Your Wii for Homebrew Apps and DVD Playback
  "Despite the fact that it ships with a DVD drive, for whatever godforsaken reason, the Nintendo Wii doesn't support DVD playback—until last week, that is, when a homebrew hacker released a tool that enables DVD playback on your Wii."
• Mozilla Crowns Best Firefox 3 Extensions
  "Mozilla Labs announces the winners of their official Extend Firefox 3 Contest, and they're an impressive crop of new and updated extensions for your favorite browser."
• Get Free Airport Wi-Fi with a Simple URL Hack
  "Blogger Felix Geisendorfer points out a clever URL hack that scored him free Wi-Fi at the Atlanta airport."
• Top 10 YouTube Hacks
  "Summer's ending, and with it goes a certain sense of taking it easier, relaxing a bit at the office—you know, caching up on all that YouTube browsing you skip when there's real work to be done."
• Top 10 Conversation Hacks
  "A whole lot more than just words passes between people who are talking, so a few simple conversational skills can help you recognize what's really being said and help you lead the discussion your way."
• iPhone 2.0 Jailbreak Apps You Can't Find in the iTunes Store
  "The iTunes' App Store offers iPhone and iPod touch users hundreds of applications to install on their devices, but power users who want functionality above and beyond what Apple's SDK allows still want to jailbreak their device."
• Battle of the Must-Have Firefox Extensions
  "Mozilla Labs crowned their picks of best new and updated Firefox 3 extensions in a recent contest, but what about best extensions of all time?"
• Five Best To-Do List Managers
  "If all the methodology of the best GTD applications loses you in the productivity shuffle, there's nothing like a classic, simple to-do list to keep you on track. "
• Free Replacements for Paid Tools
  "There might be no such thing as truly free beer, but in the world of computers and software, you can often brew your own substitutes to premium paid software and service with just a few double-clicks and some know-how."

Back in 2006, Oscar Diös heard there was a dead Boeing 747-200 built in 1976 on one of the runways at Arlanda Airport, the largest international airport in Sweden, north of Stockholm. It was once owned by a Swedish company called Transjet, who used it to fly muslim pilgrims to Mecca, as well as doing charter flights around the world until it was grounded for "organizational problems" in 2002. The noble Jumbo was in a bad state, but Oscar saw the possibilities right away. Probably after way too many glasses of akvavit that day, Diös thought he had the perfect idea: to buy the 747 and convert it into a low-cost hotel.

I was getting ready to expand my hostel business in 2006 when I heard about an old wreck of an aircraft for sale at Arlanda. Since I had for a long time wanted to establish my business at Arlanda I didn’t hesitate for a second when this opportunity struck.

galleryPost('jumbohostel', 9, '');

The connection doesn't seem too logic. In fact, it may even seem crazy to most, but it is not. After all, Oscar is the modest owner of the hostel Uppsala Vandrarhem och Hotell, in Uppsala, so he must know how expensive is to actually find a terrain near a busy airport like Arlanda, then actually build an entire hotel from scratch.

That's why, when he learnt about the dead Jumbo, Oscar only saw cheap space for rooms and decided it was time to continue his inexpensive hotel business right next to Arlanda. He thought that, being the busiest, largest international airport in his country, there was going to lots of clients looking for cheap accommodation.

However, from buying the airplane to setting up the hostel there was a long way. First he needed to get the OK from the authorities of Sigtuna, which is the town that controls the terrains in which the Arlanda Airport is based. He had the perfect pitch for them: it was going to be a unique landmark, he thought. He wanted to place it right at the entrance of the airport itself, on top of a concrete foundation with the landing gear tied to two steel cradles. The authorities heard the story and, surprisingly enough, they agreed to the plan and granted him permission to set it up.

The hotel itself was also a challenge. It wasn't going to be as easy as to install a few beds, and start selling curry kyckling macka, small beer cans, lousy pot coffee, and peanut bags at the plane second level cafeteria. The Boeing 747-200 interior—with 450 seats—needed to be completely dismantled and sanitized. Then, it needed to be insulated, divided into 25 rooms (each of them 6 square meters, with 3 meters to ceiling), and completely rewired. It also needed new plumbing, bathrooms, sanitation, and a new climate control system, since the windows on planes are fixed and can't be opened. And to finish it all, the whole result had to adhere to the strict construction policies of Sweden.

At the end, and after a two year odyssey, he did it: the Jumbo Hostel—as Oscar called his creation—has been towed to its final destination, and bookings will start in December. All in the name of inexpensive accommodation, pilots and stewardesses sex fantasies, and crazy Swedish landmarks. Pass the akvavit Oscar, next time I go to that part of the world, I'll be checking in. [Jumbo Hostel via Random Good Stuff]

newVideoPlayer("/marufightingbots_giz.flv", 475, 376,""); Naoki Maru may live in Hikone, north of Kyoto, down the road from a samurai castle full of katana swords and armor, but for him, the ancient Japanese art of bushido is best carried out with robots, not people. King Kizer, the Maru family robot, has dominated the Robo-One tourney over the past three years, collecting $50,000 in prize money. Maru, a factory engineer by day, is trying to perfect a way to make Kizer even more of an ass kicker using a technique he had seen many times in anime: A harness that captures human movements and translates them into robotic attacks and other gestures.

Check out video footage of the harness in action below, plus our exclusive interview, where Maru discusses the what it takes to win a robotic deathmatch. galleryPost('marubots', 3, '');

Maru builds the bots; his sons Kenta and Ryoma operate them in the combat tournaments. For a prizefighter, King Kizer is only 16 inches tall but has a lightweight aluminum frame, very rapid servomotors and sensors that help it maintain its balance and detect its enemies. Kizer uses the latter to launch speedy, autonomous attacks on foes.

The harness creates a master-slave connection with Kenta. When the boy moves his upper body during combat, sensors with voltage potentiometers transmit the motions via a Bluetooth link to Kizer, which reproduces them. In the video, you can see that there's a bit of a delay, but apparently robot combat is still clumsy enough for this to not have too great an impact. The lower body is still controlled with a gamepad.

newVideoPlayer("/marumasterslave_giz.flv", 475, 376,"");

We recently visited the Maru dojo to discuss King Kizer and new fighting-robot technologies:

How does the "master-slave" control technology work? Where did you get the idea? Have you used it in Robo-One tournaments?
The master-slave control idea goes a long way back. The concept has a long history in robot anime, and it has been implemented in surgical devices. I've been using it since I first entered Robo-One.

The equipment affixed to the operator's body is known as a "master suit," and I concentrated on making this lightweight.

The strong point of the system is that it's great for adapting to the requirements of the moment. Other systems can only be operated through preprogrammed robot motions. For instance, in hand-to-hand combat, if you encounter a robot that is shorter than what you expected to go up against, your machine will be punching air instead of metal. But with a master-slave control system, that's not a problem you encounter.

The weak point of my current master-slave system is that it's limited to the upper half of the controller's body. But this is a problem that I believe I can solve. I'm also making improvements to use the system in non-combat applications. As you saw, it can also be used to handle eggs!

How do you build your robots?
When I decided to make my first bipedal robot from scratch, I had to study. The manufacturing process includes making the aluminum panels—cutting, bending and finishing—, plus vacuum form molding, resin casting and other techniques. The design is done in 2D CAD, and then I make a model, printing the frame on paper. Once I confirm the mechanical structure of the paper model, I start creating the actual aluminum panels. Since I don't do it in 3D CAD [just 2D CAD], this work process is really critical.

I already had computer programming skills, so making the robot's control system wasn't so difficult for me.

What is the role of your sons in your robot activity?
They're more than operators—our team is like the driver and mechanics in an F1 race car team. But their most important role is that they keep me motivated. I give it my all so that my sons can be victorious. I doubt I would have the power to keep winning at Robo-One if I had to create and operate the robots and compete in the tournaments all by myself!

Also, my sons sometimes provide me with unexpected inspiration. As children, their perspectives on robot making are invaluable.

In only three years of robot fighting, you have collected about $50,000 in prize money at Robo-One. Why is the Maru family team so successful?
I could not do this if I were not part of a family team. Most competitors in Robo-One are bachelors—there are few family teams. And I don't want to see my kids cry if they lose at the tournament!

Another reason for our success is not the technological power of our hardware and software, but how we manage our team. There isn't a great difference between competitors. in Robo-One. Fighting really hinges not on the actual winning or losing, but on seemingly trivial factors that are not obvious.

To give you some specific examples, one must consider things like safety parameters that are in your robot's design and how they'll affect performance, readiness for bugs that crop up during a fight, as well as strategies and practice based on your study of opponents. You can't count on having a winning streak if all you have done is create a robot with some cool abilities.

What is special about Japanese robots in general?
For Japanese people, a robot means a humanoid, bipedal robot. It seems Japanese are unique in the world in this way of thinking about robots. Many of the competitors in Robo-One watched robot anime when they were kids and that really influenced them. Robots are part of their childhood dreams, and that is reflected in their robot designs and fighting techniques.

Music for the second clip: "Prelude No. 1" by The Grift; no frikkin' clue what the song in the first clip is.