New google easter eggs (December)

I accedently found something on google when I started to sype in "Do contract phones expire if you leave them?" I only got to the do when it changed my text to "do a barrel roll". Before I hit enter my screen was spinning like mad. I thought that something had gone wrong. I started to experiment with commands. The only one I have found so far is "Let it snow". I will let you find out what it does. Also try typing "tilt" and hitting enter.

Fignition

The FIGnition is a tiny little microcomputer that harkens back to the 8-bit days of yore. Designed to be an educational computer like the Altair or Heathkit (sans blinkenlights), the FIGnition gives its students ‘bare metal’ access to everything in the system. It’s powered by an ATMega168, a 4 Kb SRAM and an 8Mb Flash chip for storage. Unfortunately, the FIGnition only has 8 buttons to program with.

At only £20 it's a educational awesome mini computer. This is just like the new raspberry pi as reviewed by Greg at The Geeks Classroom. I would highly like this. If any one gets hold of this then let me know in the comments section and tell me what its like.

Portable Apps

My constant Problem at school is Installing Programs. With the new RM Community Connect 4 it is almost impossible to install programs with out hacking the system. Hacking the school network is not my style so I have been scouring the internet for a program that allows me to run a program with out having to install anything.

I eventually found Portable Apps. This is amazing. All you have to do is simply install it on your memorystick
using the Portable Apps platform and download some apps. The apps automatically run all the programs and features when you click on the icon. Unfortinatly the only programs you can use is the apps from the company. But it is sttill usefull.

I hope this helps you as much as it helped me.

Starwars On CMD

If you are board and you have nothing to do then try this out. You need to have Telnet enabled for this.
Open CMD and type telnet towel.blinklights.nl and hit enter. Now just enjoy.

New Pages and chats.

Hi everyone. I have added four new pages.

The Big Debate - This is where I will add a debate topic every Monday and anyone can join!

Projects - A list of all our projects.

Contact us - On this page you can contact us. Obviously.

The Social corner - A chatroom for anyone to join for free.

Is too much computing bad for you?

I always find that if I am on the computer too late at night and thinking hard then when I go to bed, my mind is still extreemly active and thoughts wizz through my head superfast. Ocasionly I play Unreal ( a shoot em up game) before bed. I get to sleep and I wake up in the middle of the night. I can not get back to sleep. The thoughts wiz through my head so fast that I actually am willing to run outside and scream at the top of my voice. The other thing that effects me is cravings. I went mad for an iPod touch a while ago and I had about 17 reacuring dreams about iPods ruling the world. I currently am desperate for a sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k and the other night I had a dream about a ZX Spectrum on Steroids. Scary. I would love to know what happens when you are on the computer for too long.

Please Comment, Ben.

Jquery UI

Greg( From The Geeks Classroom ) recently explained a new, simple concept to make your website a million times more interactive. jquery UI. This is a simple way to add draggable, droppable and even resizable windows. It is all very simple with the new on line builder and the awesome theme maker, There are loads of possibilities. I Suggest trying it. I am currently not an expert in it but I hope to add this fab feature to my new robotics website Xydapt

The State of ICT and Electronic teaching

As you know I am a passionate engineer and programmer. At my school I am very disappointed when I found what I would be learning. I found in ICT lessons we are not learning enough about using, programming and exploring computers. Unfortinatly that is classed as uni standard. Currently you will find that you only focus on Microsoft Office. Its a real shame. I suppose that you have to start from the very beginning as some of the other people arn't as well educated in ICT. For example I was in ICT yeasterday when another student asked me how to make a folder. I couldn't believe this. I thought it was the most obvious thing in the world. In ICT we are not learning general computer skills, we are learning Microsoft office skills instead. This is stupid as half the class don't know how to open Microsoft Office. Unfortinatly it is not their fault. The new Rasberry Pi is coming out soon ( For more info I suggest visiting The Geeks Classrook by Greg ) and I hope that will allow a lot more possobilities for children to learn programming.

TXT to Speach

Text to speach is very usefull. Here is how to make your computer talk.

Windows: 
Open notepad and type

Dim message, sapi

message=InputBox("Type your text here","TXT to SPEECH")

Set sapi=CreateObject("sapi.spvoice")

sapi.Speak message

save the file as "Speek.vbs" and make sure that "all files" is selected. Then go to the location where you saved it and open it. A window will appear. Type your text in the box and press "OK".

Mac:
Go to "Utillities" and click on "Terminal". Then Type "Say". Press enter and type what you want it to say. Then Press Enter. To exit click close.

Changing a users password Hack (Windows 7/Vista)

If you really want to get into someones stuff or you want to pull a prank, This tutorial will show you how. Go to the start menu and type in "CMD" and wait for it to load. When you see the icon Right click it and select "Run as admin...". Then it will open command prompt. First you might need to see the user names on your computer so type "Net User" and press enter. This will display all the users on your computer. Then type "Net User (username) *" the brackets are where you put the desired username. To see a load of intel on this user drop the wildcard (*). Type a password. No text will show up so don't worry. Then press enter when you are finished. It will ask you to repeat the password. Press enter again and it should work.

If It displays  "Error 5" or "access denied" then make sure you run as admin at the start.

Electronic Suppliers

There are so many electronic suppliers out there, the problem is which one should you choose? Hopefully this post will help you decide. I constantly find myself visiting Maplin stores. However thair range of electrical components is lacking. I tend to keep away from Digi-key as they never have what I want. My favourite is RS Components as they have an extreemly wide selection of components.  If you need a very unique item then this is your best bet. I also recently descovered sparkfun. This is amazing if you are working on PIC, PICAXE or somthing similar. I recently perchaced a load of components for the iPod. This was really helpfull.

So which one should I choose?
It is really  up to you and it depends on what you are doing. Sparkfun is a little pricy on P+P where as RS conponents doesn't deal with iPod and similar DEV packs.

Any Screen to Android

The Android OS is the most used mobile/tablet operating system. But it's really annoying when your TV screws up as its interface isn't user friendly. You sit back and think "I wish this was an Android TV". This would be amazing with all the apps available. Well now you can get Android on anything that has a screen. With an HDMI port on one end, and a USB plug on the other for power, just plug in FXI Technologies’ Cotton Candy dongle to create a 1080p Android television. The price is not yet set but it is expected to be under $200. Considering what’s inside that’s pretty reasonable. There’s a dual-core 1.2 GHz ARM processor, 1 gig of RAM, 64 gigs of storage, Bluetooth, WiFi, and a microSD card slot. That's amazing for the size! So for the price you could either buy an Android tablet or this. The Problem is you now need a keyboard. But you can just get one for about £10. Unfortunately the company doesn’t intend to bring Cotton Candy to the retail market. Instead, they will sell the device to developers who may do what they wish.
 Is it a good idear? Please comment.

Hacking VS Cybercrime

There is alot of people out there who say that hacking is illigal. But is it? The Term Hacking has two defenitions:
1.  An enthusiastic and skillful computer programmer or user.
2.  A person who uses computers to gain unauthorized access to data.

The Second one is the one that most people refer to. The Term CyberCrime is crime committed using a computer and the internet to steal money or ID. So technically it could be either.

I love taking things apart, modding them and upgrading them. This is also "Hacking". I am not commiting a crime or breaking the law. If I was to takedown or deface a website then that would be illigal hacking. That would be number two. However if I hacked into, Natwest for example and stole some cash then that would be CyberCrime. Over all CyberCrime is worse but what if someone "Hacks" into your personel account or E-mail then would that be worse. There are many cases where the hacker gains access to your e-mail accounts and holds it to randsome. The poor people who get hacked often get there E-mail back, Just like in this story. I shold hope non of my readers commit CyberCrime or hack computers(iligally). Hopefully you now have a good idear of what hacking and Cybercrime is. Please Comment on your thoughts.

Welcome

Hi and welcome to my blog. My name is Ben and hopefully I will be posting Electronic Projects, experiments and loads of geeky stuff along with all sorts of computer mayham every day, but for now I am working on Robotics. I Currently have a website called xYdapt! You can visit it at www.xydapt.co.cc .I am currently Running a Competition for the best robot design. The website is currently under construction but you can still enter by clicking the link on the home page.