[Geeks Are Sexy] Technology News

OpenOfficeMouse: more options for the keyboard-impaired

By Sterling “Chip” Camden
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Holy rodents on steroids, Batman!  A mouse with 18 buttons?  How could you possibly know which one you’re pressing without looking at it?  Someone will have to invent home-row mousing!

Warmouse announced the OpenOfficeMouse yesterday (November 6), a mouse specifically designed for use in conjunction with OpenOffice, but also handy for any mouse-centric applications like AutoDesk AutoCAD, the GIMP, or World of Warcraft.  This mouse comes pre-loaded with profiles for the OpenOffice applications based on 662 million datapoints of usage tracking data from OpenOffice 3.1.

Just reading through the features makes me dizzy:

• 18 programmable mouse buttons with double-click functionality

For a total of 36 different single-key operations, I presume.  Sounds more like a keyboard to me.

• Three different button modes: Key, Keypress, and Macro

I guess that means sending a “key down”, a “key down/up” sequence, or a series of mouse operations, but I’m not clear on that.

• Analog Xbox 360-style joystick with optional 4, 8, and 16-key command modes

In case the mouse wasn’t enough, it has a joystick, too!

• Clickable scroll wheel

Uh, I would have been a little surprised if they’d left that out.

• 512k of flash memory

What about those folks who’ll need 640K?

• 63 on-mouse application profiles with hardware, software, and autoswitching capability

Never mind trying to remember 18 buttons – try remembering 63 different profiles for what they do!

• 1024-character macro support.

Send a KB at the click of a button.

• Open source support software for creating, managing, and customizing application profiles

This is starting to sound even more complicated.  At least it’s open source.

• Import and export of custom profiles in XML format

So you can have the same profiles in each of your eighteen mice?

• Optional audio notification of profile switching with customizable wave files

“Now assuming identity SpreadsheetÜbermaus.”

• PDF export of profile button assignments

PDF?  Really?  I guess that’s so you can print it out to paste on the wall so you can remember how to save so much time with all these button assignments.

• Adjustable resolution from 400 to 1,600 CPI

For when you need your mouse to be able to detect your heartbeat through your fingertips.

• Default profiles for Writer, Calc, Impress, Base, and Draw based on actual usage statistics compiled for OpenOffice.org 3.1
• 20 default profiles for popular games and applications, including Adobe Photoshop, the Gnu Image Manipulation Program, World of Warcraft, and the Call of Duty series.

This isn’t a mouse, it’s the Rat King.

Okay, I know I’m biased.  I’m not a big fan of mice in general – I find the keyboard to be a much more precise and expressive device for all but the most graphically-oriented tasks.  What say you, readers of the GUI persuasion?  Would you rush out and buy this mouse?  At least it isn’t terribly expensive – retail $74.99 USD.

Make the world a better place with the Happiness Hat

Are you someone who never smiles? Would you like that to change? Well, with the help of the happiness hat, you’ll start smiling like you never did before… trust us!

The Happiness Hat is a wearable device that detects if you’re smiling and provides pain feedback if you’re not. An enclosed bend sensor attaches to the cheek and measures smile size, a servo motor moves a metal spike into the head inversely proportional to the degree of smile. Through repeated use of this conditioning device you can train your brain to smile all the time. This is the first in a series of Tools for Improved Social-Interacting.

Amazon’s suggestion system reveals surprising truth about coders [PIC]

[Via Reddit]

Twitter Lists, Google Alerts, and the Changing Face of Social Media

It’s no exaggeration to say that Twitter has been the most useful networking tool I’ve ever used. After months of toiling away on my blog and finding it very difficult to make connections with like-minded individuals, it was Twitter that actually linked me up with writers and geeks all across the globe. So, how I use Twitter is very important in my day-to-day internet communication.

(Though, I should also note that Twitter has also been the vehicle for the most irritating marketing guru/SEO/you-know-what on the face of the planet. For every follower I have, I’ve received twice as many spam bots and porn pictures. What has been seen cannot be unseen… ugh. Seriously guys, you’ve got to figure out something better than leaving it up to us to block the offensive crap…)

While I’m surprised that it’s taken Twitter as long as it has to finally catch up, they recently released a new list feature, allowing users to construct and follow lists rather than individuals. At first, I didn’t think this was that much of a big deal. I already have lists in TweetDeck that let me pare down the people I follow to the ones I’m most likely to listen to on a given day. But recently, I’ve realized there’s a good number of people that I should be following, but for some reason have not. But by the same token, I don’t want to bog down my following list much more; I’m already pretty generous about following back, and I worry about hitting critical mass and actually missing the more important tweets!

Of no shock to anyone, as soon as Twitter released lists, within days we had our first supporting applications, including Listiti. Aside from it’s rather um, weird name, it’s basically a way to integrate Google Alerts with Twitter Lists, and I must say, that’s brilliant.

See, I’m really interested in knowing what’s going on in the publishing industry, but I’m a little hesitant to follow hundreds of editors, agents, and writers, especially considering many of them might not be talking about stuff that pertains to me. But with Listiti, I can follow a particularly good list and include a keyword like “steampunk” or “speculative fiction” (genres I often write) and I’ll only get Twitter notifications when those particular keywords come up.

Seriously. Awesome.

As my Twitter account has grown I’ve worried about how the hell I’m going to keep up; as I said, maintaining the network I’ve built is really important to me. Seems like Listiti will really help me in that department… if only they could create an application that will help me browse the best matching lists… or get rid of porn spam and marketing gurus for good.

Infractor: interactive, collaborative multitouch application

Infractor is an interactive, artistic application that has been developed for a Multitouch-table.
It is based on the information of the New York Times Online. The information can be searched, filtered and read by putting physical objects on the interactive surface.

NEC brings translation up close and personal

Those who saw the last series of Dr Who spin-off Torchwood will remember the team using a contact lens which both housed a camera and displayed text for the wearer to read.

That’s not quite possible in reality yet, but NEC in Japan has come up with something similar: a pair of spectacles with a built-in camera and a projector which beams images onto the wearer’s retina. And eventually it could even act as a translation device.

The initial version of Telescouter, due for release next year, will allow the wearer to see text and images without the need for a large screen. Among the possible uses are to allow technicians to see the instructions for repairing a machine even when in a position where referring to a printed manual simply isn’t practical, such as when leaning into the depths of a photocopier.

It may also be used by sales staff so that they can refer to data about a customer’s past acitivity while holding an undisturbed conversation with them (or at least as undisturbed a conversation as you can have with somebody with a mini-projector clipped on to their spectacles).

If you’re liking the look of this so far, I’m afraid to tell you it might be a bit ambitious to put it on your Christmas list for 2010. The initial release is likely to be as a system for 30 users, with a total price of 7.5 million yen, or just over $80,000.

(Some reports have put the cost at 750 million yen, or $8 million, for the 30 pairs. However, while $2,666 a time certainly sounds feasible for a pair of high-tech specs, it seems pretty ludicrous to imagine an engineer or sales rep being sent off on the road wearing a pair costing more than a quarter of a million dollars.)

Things get even more exciting with NEC’s plans for 2011. They expect to release a second version of the spectacles with the addition of a microphone and headset. The mic will pick-up conversations and send the audio to a small waist-mounted computer which will route it to a remote server. The server will use a combination of voice recognition and automated translation software to come up with a translation. This is then not only relayed to the user’s ear through speech synthesis, but also displayed on their retina as subtitles.

To work properly, of course, both parties in a conversation would need to wear the spectacles. However, the idea is that this wouldn’t just be a gimmick and instead could be used for confidential negotiations where firms wouldn’t trust a human interpretor.

Deal of the Day: ViewSonic VA2223wm 22-inch 16:9 1080p LCD – $149, Shipped

Originally priced at $218.99, ViewSonic’s 22″ 16:9 VA2223wm monitor is now going for $149 (shipping included) on Amazon.com. The display features Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution, a dynamic contrast ratio of 16,000:1, 5 ms of response time, a slim bezel design, and Integrated stereo speakers for those of you looking for some space-saving gear for their already too small desk.

[ViewSonic VA2223wm 22-Inch (21.5" Vis) 16:9 1080p LCD Monitor - DVI and Speakers - $149, Shipping Included]

;-) (or, Attack of the Emoticons)

By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

First let me say that I carved an emoticon pumpkin for Halloween, taking a cue from some other geeky jack-o-lanterns. And I imagine that most of you use them on a daily basis – when you need a wink, a smile, a grin, a frown, or even a o.O to express yourself in text.

But are we getting overloaded to the point where we need emoticon etiquette? According to an expert in such things, “one smiley face in an e-mail message and one exclamation point” is totally fine, but “winks, toothy grins, outstretched-tongue emoticons” require some discretion.  Good to know! So what about an entire book? After all, apparently someone is planning to rewrite Moby Dick entirely in emoticons (or rather, the Japanese emoji, which are more expressive than the usual fare). But hey, if we can get the Bible in LOLCat, I guess condensing even further is the next step.

And NASA is using emoticons too – because how else but :-( could you express the disappointment of a failed launch?

I admit, I cringe when I hear someone say “LOL” aloud – some things are just meant to stay on a computer screen. Hopefully we don’t become so saturated with emoticons that we forget to smile the usual way, but if we do, luckily there are pillows we can hold in front of our faces. :-(

Internet helps, not hinders, social networks

New communications technologies, such as the Internet and mobile phones, have not made people less social, according to a study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. While the number of people the average person interacts with has declined, the internet isn’t necessarily the cause, and the theory that social isolation has tripled in the past 25 years appears to be unfounded, according to the study.

Indeed, it finds that those who engage in online discussion have broader social horizons. The study found that people who write blogs or post pictures online are much more likely to form close bonds with people of a different racial background or holding different political views to themselves.

The report claims to prove that internet use does not deter people from going out into the real world, noting that 38% of individuals who’ve been to a library in the past month have gone online, as have 18% of coffee shop visitors. That’s an odd argument, as by definition, net-addicted hermits won’t show up in these figures.

The results of the study show that using the internet regularly doesn’t make much difference either way to how active a person is in their local community. Despite the global nature of the web, the study found that social contact with other people online is just as likely to be with people who are nearby as it is to be with people further afield.

Internet use doesn’t appear to change how many close friends a user regularly sees face to face. However, once you take account of “weak ties” (people you keep in contact with but aren’t necessary close friends), use of sites such as Facebook greatly increases both the size and diversity of a user’s social network.

And while the internet extends the range of people that a user is in contact with, it doesn’t change the way they communicate with their closest friends and family. Among this “core network”, face-to-face contact is still by far the most common method, almost three times as common as any online communication.

One of the most interesting theory thrown up by the report is that the “internet users/socially isolated” link may be a false correlation. It suggests that people in their early 20s working their first job and living away from home for the first time (other than in college dorms) are inherently less likely to have geographically close friends, simply because they haven’t had time to establish social ties with neighbors or work colleagues. The fact that these people are also more likely to be regular internet users is not necessarily related.

Ask [GAS]: Why IT is Fun Again

While reading the latest issue of ComputerWorld Canada today, I stumbled on an article titled “Why IT is fun again”, detailing why many IT professionals have started enjoying working in the field again. From the ever-increasingly powerful gadgets to users being less and less clueless about technology, the piece lists many love stories between tech pros and their jobs.

Unfortunately, the article isn’t available online, and pesky copyright laws prevent us from just copying and pasting the article here.

However, we can do something even better: Why don’t you tell us why YOU think IT is a fun field to work into again… or maybe for you it has always been fun and nothing changed? The comments section is open for your stories!

[Picture Source: Flickr (CC)]

CNET UK Names iPhone the World’s Worst

Ouch. Even the headline is painful. It appears that, in spite of a recently positive review in June, at least one editor at CNET UK has decided that it’s high time the iPhone’s shortcomings are shown to the world. In a slightly tongue-in-cheek list, Flora Graham spares no barbs detailing the biggest problems with the iPhone and concludes that while it’s a great handheld computer, it sucks as a phone.

Between dropped calls, inferior call quality, missed calls, hot temperatures, and negligible battery life, Graham reports that the iPhone is simply an inferior phone all around. After her rather exhaustive list, she begs the question:

If the iPhone is inaudible, unconnected, on fire and out of battery, why is the thing so popular?

While I appreciate her honesty on the subject, and am certainly wary of the iPhone’s remarkable grasp on the market, from my experience the list feels a little dramatic. Our iPhone has its quirks, but those flaws pale in comparison to the two Treos we had before. The fact that it’s a phone does indeed feel second-string in regard to everything else it can do, but I think that was the point of the phone to begin with. Making crystal clear phone calls isn’t necessarily the reason people buy cell phones anymore, especially considering that we have so many other methods of communication these days. I know, personally, I only make calls when I know email, Twitter, or Facebook isn’t an option.

However, the list and its acidic tone may simply signify a new trend in iPhone perception, especially on the heels of the Nokia lawsuit regarding the technology the iPhones use. With its single provider lockdown here in the states–only AT&T supports the iPhone–and many stories about App Store nightmares from developers and consumers alike, it might be time for Apple to consider their tarnishing image.

Do you have any iPhone horror stories? Do you think any new phones coming to the market as purported “iPhone killers” have a chance? Or are these negative iPhone stories just trying to get some press?

[Image: CNET UK]

Funkytown by Lipps Inc: The Hardware Edition

Remember when we posted the clip featuring old hardware reproducing Radiohead’s Nude song? Well, in response to this video, James Cochrane decided to do the same with Funkytown, using a similar method.