Category Archives: Uncategorized

2012 Year in Review

I was actually scrolling through my Google+ profile the other day, and say that I had posted a good number of times there throughout the year. It gave a good overview of what went on throughout the year, and so I will post the results of what I found here:

1. Raspberry Pi

Early this year, a company build a computer on the board the size of a credit card and made it available for sale for only $25.

2. Lytro Camera

Another interesting device, this camera lets you take a picture, and then choose what part of the picture to focus on.

3. Apple

A woman wanted to sue Apple because she ran into the glass doors and didn’t see them.

4. Project Glass

Google released videos over the Internet featuring its most recent project: Project Glass. A wearable computer takes video and displays messages on your screen. Video chat, etc.

5. More Google Stuff

Google’s self-driving cars become legal in the state of Nevada.

6. Windows 8

I should write a blog post on my opinions about this. I have Windows 8. Officially released on Oct 26, it was Microsoft’s next major release of the operating system. Heavily designed for a touch UI, this operating system features versions for both computers and tablets.

That’s basically all I found. Hopefully I’ll blog more in 2013.

Google and Twitter = Glitter?

Google has recently added a new feature to its search results. Users will now see if a someone they follow on Twitter has shared a link in the search results. It looks something like this:

A Google search result
Google tell's me that a Twitter account I follow has shared this link.

Google uses the links people share in your Twitter feed to provide users with better results. It can help a user decide which link to click on, based on the people they follow on Twitter. If I usually like content from a certain user, and I see that they shared it in a search result, it would be more likely that I click on a link if I see that user shared it as well.

Bing recently did something similar with Facebook, where a user will see if a friend has liked a link in the search results.

YouTube Launches Superbowl Ad Site

YouTube has launched a channel for watching, rating and sharing Superbowl ads. This year, after the ads air, they will be posted to this channel for people to watch again, rate and share.

Personally, I don’t watch football, but I’ll definitely be checking out this channel over the weekend as they post new commercials.

You can view the channel at http://youtube.com/adblitz

YouTube Ad Blitz
A screenshot of YouTube's Ad Blitz channel, where ads will be posted after they air.

The Dead of Winter

Did it every occur to you as odd, that the coldest time of the year is not December 21st, the shortest day? The reason is called ALBEDO. That’s the shininess, or reflectivity, of the Earth’s surface. In winter, much of our hemisphere is covered in snow, which reflects sunlight and prevents the Earth from heating up, thus prolonging winter

Tired Dolphins

Dolphins do not breathe automatically like we do. They need to think about it, so they don’t sleep. If they become unconscious for any reason, they drown.

Shrimp have more than 100 pairs of chromosomes. Humans have 23.

Whales’ eyes are fixed so they have to turn their whole body to change their filed of view.

Hard Working Eyes

Your eyes move more than any other muscle. If your legs worked as hard as your eyes, you would be walking 50 miles (80 km) per day.

All animals are born with blue eyes. Most change to brown shortly after birth.

Brown eyed people are better at sports requiring split second timing. Blue eyed people are better at sports requiring accuracy.

Kiss a Frog and Find Your Prince

In Australia in the 1930’s, the sugar cane industry was failing due to an infestation of greyback beetle grubs, who’s favourite food is sugar cane roots. To solve the problem, they imported 102 cane toads in from Hawaii. However, the toads decided that the fried bugs from lamps were tastier. Today, the greyback beetle infestation is solved but the toad infestation is at an all time high. In hopes of solving the problem, a rumour started about the toads that if you licked them it caused hallucinations, It causes more than that: heart attack, stroke and seizures to name a few

But ever wonder where the idea of kissing a frog to find your prince came from?

Phobias and Phillias

A phobia is a fear of something. The opposite is called a phillia (love of something).
– Hydrophobia – fear of water/ hydrophilla – love of water
– Pogonophobia – fear of beards
– Oneirophobia – fear of dreams
– Sitophobia – fear of food
– Astraphobia – fear of lightning
– Sciophobia – fear of shadows
– Drednophobia – fear of trees
– Basiphobia – fear of walking
– Ergophobia – fear of work
– Graphophobia – fear of writing
– Bibliophobia – fear of books

Hazards to Life and Limb

These things pose the same health risk in time of decreasing your life expectancy by the same amount
– One X-ray (in a good hospital)
– Smoking 1.4 cigarettes
– Living 2 months with a smoker
– Eating 100 barbecued steaks
– Eating 40 tablespoons of peanut butter
– Traveling 1000 miles by air
– Traveling 150 miles by car
– Living 150 years beside a nuclear power plant
– Working 3 hours in a coal mine
– Rock climbing for 1.5 minutes