All posts by eddy

Google Suggests

Technology

I hadn’t been paying much attention to this AJAX thing, until I saw an article about it in Dr Dobbs Journal (Feb 2006).

AJAX is Asynchronous Javascript And XML, essentially a collective name for a group of technologies that together allow web pages to asynchronously interact with a remote server without losing the page context. This leads to the ability to design significantly more interactive interfaces.

The best example I’ve seen is the one cited in the Dr Dobbs article: Google Suggests. As you type in search keywords, a realtime display appears below showing you suggested matches for what you’re typing. All the words retrieved are fetched from Google’s server in realtime as you type, without you even noticing. Very cool…

Lego Difference Machine

Technology

From the Useless But Cool dept: Andrew Carol (no relation) has built a Lego Difference Engine in the fashion of Charles Babbage’s original.

Due to structural limitations of Lego (plastic bricks and gears can’t handle the same stresses as metal), it’s a cut down version but still functional. Very cool.

And on the subject of Lego, if you’ve been playing with Lego Mindstorms (Lego’s robotic kits), Lego have just announced Mindstorms NXT, the next generation – with a 32-bit RISC processor and a number of other significant improvements. My second childhood should be due any day now, and I’m looking forward to playing with this…

WikiCalc

Useful Links

Following on from HTMLWiki, I see Dan Bricklin’s latest project is something called WikiCalc. (You may recall that Dan Bricklin was responsible for the original Visacalc spreadsheet, which helped kickstart sales of the Apple II computer many years ago.)

WikiCalc is a type of Wiki that deals with structured data which can include calculation elements – calendars, etc for example. It looks interesting!

Tiddly Wiki

Useful Links

Tiddly Wiki is one of the coolest little hacks I’ve seen in a while.

Essentially, a Wiki that is completely contained within a single HTML file, including edit support. This lets you edit it locally without requiring a web server etc. Very cool.

(Thanks to Matija for the reference.)

Shoot a picture first, focus later

Technology

Last November, New Scientist reported an interesting bit of new technology which I’ve just come across.

Traditionally, digital cameras have to make a trade-off between aperture size and depth of field – the more light you let in (and the better the peformance in low light), the more prone the image is to blurring.

Now researchers have come up with a way to post-process focus after image capture, by inserting a sheet of 90,000 lenses, each 125 micrometres across, between the main lens and the image sensor. The angle of each light ray hitting the sensor is recorded, as well as the intensity. This allows clever software to refocus the image afterwards where necessary.

Fasncinating concept, and no doubt we’ll see some variant of it turning up in commercial products in the future.

Ain’t It Cool Dept.

Networking

A friend just pointed me towards this new pen device (thanks Mike).

Ostensibly for kids, it sounds like a little piece of magic. How actually useful it might be is another question, but read the article and judge for yourself.

For more fun, check out their homepage at www.flypentop.com where you can try out the technology using a virtual pen controlled by your mouse.

Very cool.