Firefox hack - OTE search

note: this post is in Greek because it is about a whitepages firefox search engine of the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE S.A.). ;)


Το whitepages του ΟΤΕ είναι πολύ χρήσιμο site αλλά φοβερά εκνευριστικό όταν προσπαθείς να κάνεις αντίστροφη αναζήτηση (αναζήτηση στοιχείων συνδρομητή όταν γνωρίζουμε το νούμερο). Προσπαθείς να βάλεις το νούμερο που βρήκες στις αναπάντητες και ξαφνικά πετάγεται η προειδοποίηση:
Για αναζήτηση συνδρομητή βάσει τηλεφώνου, δε χρειάζεται να ορίσετε περιοχή αναζήτησης και επώνυμο/επωνυμία.
Και δεν φτάνει που αναφέρει τα αυτονόητα, πρέπει να πατήσεις το ΟΚ για να συνεχίσεις....

Τέλος πάντων, εγώ θα ήθελα να χρησιμοποιώ το search bar του firefox και όχι το whitepages.
Μετά απ΄ το σχετικό googling βρήκα μόνο ένα πρόγραμμα που κάνει τέτοια αναζήτηση (WhitePagesDirect 1.1.2) αλλά είναι αυτόνομο - δεν είναι add-on του firefox.

So…I did it (με λίγο ψάξιμο - OpenSearch, mac, αλλά..).

Ιδού η λύσις:

1. Βρίσκεστε εδώ (σε αυτήν τη σελίδα).

2. Κάνετε click στο drop down box του search bar.




3. Μετά Add “OTE search”.




4. Και έτοιμοι να εισάγετε νούμερο (10 ψηφία).

My reel

My vfx reel page is now updated (with a nice 'how to' video).

Paper art - II

Papercut art by Jen Stark.


Paper art - I.

Helicam - II

... or the microdrone?


Helicam - I.

Steam walker

The gold medal winner of kinetic artbots - RoboGames 2006 by I-Wei Huang.

NXT Cicala

I was looking for an easy way to build custom chassis for various robotic projects. So, I purchased recently the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT kit. I think that the NXT is an easy way for experiments or prototyping.

I started with the quick project suggested by LEGO in order to learn the shapes and combinations of the various pieces.
After a few days I decided to make my first NXT robot; the NXT Cicala (a two wheeled balancing robot).

I used the light sensor in order to measure the slope of the robot as in the original Cicala version. I wrote a little program in NXC (a simple PID controller - manually adjusted for my sensor and motors) and voila.

front view

rear view

Fab@Home

"Fab@Home is a website dedicated to making and using fabbers - machines that can make almost anything, right on your desktop. This website provides an open source kit that lets you make your own simple fabber, and use it to print three dimensional objects. You can download and print various items, try out new materials, or upload and share your own projects. Advanced users can modify and improve the fabber itself."
Evan Malone

Rapid prototyping for only US$2300!

KMODDL

"The Kinematic Models for Design Digital Library is an open access, multimedia resource for learning and teaching about kinematics – the geometry of pure motion – and the history and theory of machines. KMODDL is a pedagogical space designed for use by teachers and researchers,... The original core of KMODDL is the Reuleaux Collection of Mechanisms and Machines, an important collection of 19th-century machine elements held by Cornell University’s Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering."
KMODDL

Security digest

"This site is dedicated to preserving the history of early computer security digests and mailing lists, specifically those prior to the mid 1990's. This includes the Unix 'Security Mailing List', through to the Zardoz 'Security Digest' to the Core 'Security List', i.e. those preceeding BugTraq. These forums are a valuable insight into the embryonic development of the field of computer security, especially as it relates to the Internet, and the development of the Doctrine of Disclosure."

The 'Security Digest' Archives.

Isobot

Cool robotic designs: Isobots

Core war

"Core War (or Core Wars) is a programming game in which two or more battle programs (called warriors) compete for the control of the MARS virtual computer (Memory Array Redcode Simulator). These battle programs are written in an abstract assembly language called Redcode. The object of the game is to cause all processes of the opposing program(s) to terminate, leaving your program in sole possession of the machine.

...The game was introduced to the public in May 1984, in an article written by Dewdney in Scientific American (Computer Recreations)."
Wikipedia

Info about at: corewars (including links to tutorials/guides, math of the game and even the use of genetic algorithms to evolve core war programs).

Wholemovement

Folding circles by Bradford Hansen-Smith.

Illusion

"As with many so-called illusions, this effect really demonstrates the success rather than the failure of the visual system. The visual system is not very good at being a physical light meter, but that is not its purpose. The important task is to break the image information down into meaningful components, and thereby perceive the nature of the objects in view."
Edward H. Adelson

Paper art - I

Papercut art by Peter Callesen.

Robotic platforms

Two platforms for robotic experiments:

- Qwerk - $349.00
- iRobot Create (from the creators of the Scooba) - $129.99

Double inverted pendulum

A double inverted pendulum video (posted by a lecturer of TECNUN).

Double inverted pendulum

Fuzzy logic controlled - two stage inverted pendulum.

Triple inverted pendulum

A triple inverted pendulum by Max Planck Institute!!

PID with BASIC Stamp

And a PID control intro with the BASIC Stamp.

LEGO inverted pendulum

An RCX inverted pendulum project by Ken Dye.

also: an analysis of motor speeds for geared motors by S & O Baker.

Rosie the robot

Ideas for unicycles by Ken Perlin.

Sodarace

"Sodarace is the online olympics pitting human creativity against machine learning in a competition to design robots that race over 2D terrains using the Sodaconstructor virtual construction kit."

Sodarace

Wodka info.

Java to C++

A Java to C++ transition tutorial.

Java raytracer - II

Another Java raytracer and code from Brown university.

Pretty fast.

Java raytracer - I.

Timeline of CGI

The wikipedia page about CGI. The image is from Elephants Dream, the first CGI short movie released as completely open source.

Computer history

Some online sources about computers’ history:

Old-computers
A .com site - features a collectors section.

Computer history museum
Missing some info but includes even robots.

Wikipedia pages about computers, home computers, and pesronal computers.
I found the ZX photo there.

Personal timeline:
Sinclair ZX Spectrum
Amstrad CPC 464
Acorn A3000
The first home computer with a RISC and not the PowerPC based computers as Apple stated in some ads (~1990).

Favorite “computing” device:
The Antikythera mechanism (research project).

Kinetic sculptures

Moving sculptures by Theo Jansen for a BMW commercial.

Peugeot design contest

The Peugeot design contest (cause we like design).

BugGuide

Nice site - index about bugs.

Artificial life

Examples and source code by Michael LaLena.
Also,
Framsticks - Artificial Life - 3D evolution and simulation,
The Complexity and Artificial Life Research Concept for Self-Organizing Systems,
Jeffrey Ventrella,
Welcome to Zooland!,
Evolutionary Computation,
Biota.org: The Artificial Life Project.

NXT Gyro

Still waiting for this gyroscopic sensor.

SKATER mini

My favorite camera dolly system by P+S Technik. Very clever!!

3D from 2D image - IV

... or else, my way.

This video is part of an ad (Lifedrops) for KINO. It is created with Flint from 3-5 photos in about 40 hours (I will need a product like this for sure).
- First, each part of the photo was isolated (floor, walls, etc).
- Some painting and distortion was the next step.
- Then, a suitable geometry was constructed for each element in the scene (a simple plane was the majority) and positioned.
- The isolated pieces were mapped to the corresponding geometries and voila.

3D from 2D image - III

An alternative to Carnegie Mellon's research by Microsoft.

3D from 2D image - II

I am curious, what will be the result of the system below if the input is one photo of a street art piece photographed from the right angle (like the one on the left) or paintings of Andrea Pozzo?

ps: Some notes about Anamorphic Perspective.

3D from 2D image - I

Carnegie Mellon researchers teach computers to perceive 3 Dimensions in 2D images.

Sumo simulation

After the Soccer Simulation Microsoft releases Sumo Simulation for Microsoft Robotics Studio.

Multitouch screen

And speaking about the GUI’s future, this is a video about Jeff Han's research. Also, here is an overview on multi-touch systems by Bill Buxton.

BumpTop

Human computer interaction is changing. Bits from the future!

Universcale

"We are able to view all entities, from the microworld to the universe, from a single perspective. Today, using the electron microscope and astronomical telescope, we can see the objects which we have not been aware of its existence before. Are you able to fathom, or even roughly grasp, these sizes?"
Nikon

Comparison of physical structures. Enlightening!!

Tool silverware

"Wrench/Tool Ware gives a automotive turn to your kitchen utensils."

everythingcarz

ZOHO

Nice sculpture.

Java raytracer - I

A Java raytracer. It does not work - as is - on the PS3 so, no benchmarks yet. I will recheck after the Linux installation on my PS3.

Helicam - I

Is there a way to combine this micro HD camera with this R/C helicopter?

Unusual statues

A collection of unusual statues.

Soccer simulation

Microsoft releases Soccer Simulation for Microsoft Robotics Studio.

GUI timeline

The timeline of the graphical user interface environments.
The wikipedia alternative.

Reflex

"One hundred years of tradition in an artform should not be thrown out the window when new technology comes along. In recent times the tools used to create animation have changed dramatically, but the principles of the art haven't. Animators still care about the same things: Poses, Timing, Arcs, and Spacing."

DigitalFish

What is this?

Unworkable devices

And speaking about museums, have a look at the museum of unworkable devices.

Amazing!!

Don’t forget to check out the overbalanced wheels section (favorite non-workable device ever).

Retro technology

I observed that the word balancing and the word wheels in the label cloud on the left sidebar of my blog are bigger than other words and I remembered a page about monowheels. The page is part of the museum of retro technology.

Murata boy

Make your own Murata boy! :P

PINO

Open PINO Platform:

"Open PINO Platform is the project to accelerate the research and development of humanoid robots by providing the technical information of PINO open to the public. Everyone can use PINO as a base of the research and development, in other words, to foster PINO to be more sophisticated humanoid robot. We hope PINO to play the similar role as LINUX, for humanoid robot development."

Kuler

Create colour palettes for your site.