piZap is an online tool for modifying images in fun ways. You can caption them, change body parts, add distortion effects, and more. Being Adobe Flash-based, it works with pretty much anything (though they say they have problems with 64-bit Vista. Then again, so does everyone who uses 64-bit Vista). There’s no registration, no credit cards, no annoying popups.
Pizap is a fun free photo editor that lets people easily create wacky images with their digital pictures. PiZap was created as a tool primarily for social networking users who want to post their images to their favorite social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, Hi5, Orkut, Friendster, Bebo, miGente, Windows Live Spaces, Blogger, Tagged, and many more. PiZap provides a very easy to use photo editor that lets you add photo effects, custom text or speech bubbles, hundreds of original colorful stickers, a full painting program, and much more. PiZap also has built in tools for sending e-cards, downloading your image, embedding your image in any website, or sharing the link directly to your image. We have also partnered with Zazzle.com to provide you with the ability to add your image to thousands of customizable products. Above all piZap was made for people to have fun and be creative with the thousands of digital images that they currently store on their computers. With expert tools like Photoshop only available to a few, and many other online photo editors being clunky or hard to use, piZap is here to save the day. Have fun piZapping! .
So I fairly recently switched from Fedora and KDE to Kubuntu (Unbuntu with KDE) (because the problems with package repository conflicts were driving me crazy), then from Kubuntu to Ubuntu (because I was immediately turned off by the new KDE 4.1 simplifying/candy-ifying makes it looks too much like Windows, and they’ve reduced functionality). Read on…
From SlashDot: Scientists Build Neonatal Incubator From Car Parts. Neonatal incubators normally cost about $40,000. He built one for less than $1,000 using car parts. The article points out how this could be a boon for developing countries, not just because they’re cheap, but because they’re easily and cheaply maintained. Aparently, developing countries get plenty of donated neonatal incubators, but they can’t fix them once they break, and they do that alot. Here’s the original article.
I’ve talked before about how wonderful Stack Overflow is. I found this great post today listing free books and quick reference cards. There are a lot of out of work geeks out there that could use a refresher or some cross-training.
The largest sources out there seems to be Added Bytes and 37Signals. I hope to compile and publish a list soon too, because I have a bunch of links to documentation on various software packes and languages.
I set up set up these three movies at the top of my Netflix queue:
I am a long-time fan of I Can Has Cheezburger, a very funny website with animal pictures. Most of them are of cats. If you’re more into canine comedy, there’s I Can Has Hotdog. It turns out that the parent “company”, Pet Holdings (you gotta love double entendres), runs a whole bunch of websites like like that. Read on…
Found on Slashdot: Energy-Generating Floors To Power Subway Displays In Tokyo.
In short, they’re installing piezoelectric circuitry in the floor. Piezoelectric devices convert pressure to energy and back. Squeeze them and they generate electricity. Send electric waveforms into them and they vibrate to the pulses and make sound. It’s what watches use for buzzers. The system is going to be used to power ticket gates and display systems. Here’s another article on it with more of a technical slant.
Two words: Too Cool!
From Asylum (I think they’re part of AOL): The Most Wonderfully Geeky Moments of 2008.
I think it’s fair to say my qualifications for considering something geeky is a whole lot higher than the general populace, but if you give them a little leeway on that front, it’s a very enjoyable article.
I never saw this website before (I think I got the original link from Digg), but there’s lots of good stuff there, for people with a lot more free time than I have.