[Tips] 50 things you need to give up today

A colleague just pointed me to this blog, it shows the 50 things you should give up today.

For example:
Give up trying to be perfect – The real world doesn’t reward perfectionists, it rewards people who get things done.

This is so true !

The link to the blog post

[Fun] Simon's Cat in 'The Box'

Funny movie about Simon's cat.

Also check out his site

[Fun] Rebecca Black parody on Friday song by lipreading

This is a real good song, it is made by reading the lips of Rebecca Black when she sings her Friday song.

[Fun] Retro handheld games collection, play them online

Remember those small handheld computer games ? Now is the time to replay the games you played in the good old days ! ;)

Play them here at pica-pic.com

[Fun] Dancing laptop thief is embarrassed and returns laptop

The victim from which the laptop was stolen got his hands on a video the thief made with his laptop via an automatic backup. This video was posted on Youtube and finally he even got a Facebook message from the thief. He even got the laptop back.

Check the full story

[Tech] Building your own multitouch surface computer

I ran into this when looking for some information regarding the usage of infrared leds for touch detection. This combines a custom cabinet, a beamer, a PS3 eyetoy camera, some infrared leds, a computer, some software and a lot of work into a cool device.

Check this link at MaximumPC

[Fun] Jester: The online joke recommender based upon personal taste

Jester is an online joke recommender which shows you 8 jokes and depending how you rate them it will show you more jokes which are certainly to your liking.

It showed me a lot of good ones like this:

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson go on a camping trip, set up their tent, and fall asleep. Some hours later, Holmes wakes his faithful friend. "Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."

Watson replies, "I see millions of stars."

"What does that tell you?"

Watson ponders for a minute. "Astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Timewise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, it's evident the Lord is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?"

Holmes is silent for a moment, then speaks. "Watson, you idiot, someone has stolen our tent."

[Dev] Wake On Lan or in short WOL, a C# code snippet

Today a colleague asked me about sending a WOL message to wake up a networked computer. Coincidently I am working on an energy saving application that wakes up my media server when needed via a magic packet.

The next piece of C# code  takes care of the creation and the broadcast of the packet:

public void SendMagicPacket()
{
 // The MAC address of the computer which needs to wake up.
 byte[] macAddress = new byte[] { 0x00, 0x19, 0x66, 0xa0, 0x75, 0xb2 };

 // Create the packet.
 List<byte> packet = new List<byte>();

 // The packet start with 6 0xFF packets.
 for (int i = 0; i < 6; i++)
 {
  packet.Add(0xFF);
 }

 // Then the MAC address is repeated 16 times.
 for (int i = 0; i < 16; i++)
 {
  packet.AddRange(macAddress);
 }

 // Finally we send the packet to the broadcast address.
 UdpClient client = new UdpClient();
 client.Connect(IPAddress.Broadcast, 7); 
 client.Send(packet.ToArray(), packet.Count);
 client.Close();
}

Make sure that the computer which needs to wake up is correctly configured in the BIOS. As I understand certain Broadcom network cards have trouble waking up, so be warned.

[Fun] It's an amazing dog which is dancing the Meringue

I just ran into this clip of a Golden Retriever which dances the Meringue. It's really amazing and fun !

[Fun] An emergency excuse generator

This device is a must-have for any respected professional. Any time the need arises, you will have an original, freshly-generated excuse ready in seconds. One press of the button can get you out of a tight spot ensuring smooth sailing toward retirement and guaranteeing that you don't have to perform any actual work.

Link to the emergency excuse generator

In case you want to make a physical device, click here for instructions.

[Fun] The ultimate pirate ship bedroom

This would have been very cool when I was a kid :)

Link for the story and more pictures.

[Photo] Extreme photography in the Grand Canyon

This guy was taking a photograph at 900 meters high to take a sunset picture ... Crazy !

The way back was also crazy, check this next picture

Link to the full story

[Dev] Best practices for versioning of data constracts and/or APIs

I came across a discussion about the best way to do versioning of components/apis/data contracts. The following links shed some light on the do's and don'ts.

Versioning of APIs and the importance for web services

Best Practices for data contracts according to Microsoft

Semantic versioning

[News] Columbia Jacket keeps you warm via battery packs

I just ran into this jacket from Columbia, which contains 2 battery packs and 3 different heating modes to keep you warm in those cold periods of the year. I would love to have one of them, only the price of $700-$1200 is stopping me, it's not that cold in the Netherlands ... :)

A review at engadget

[Fun] Video of M.C. Esher's impossible waterfall

Everyone probably recognizes the waterfall that the Dutch artist M.C. Esher made in 1961. It represents an impossible flow of water. There is however a german guy who made it real, check out the following video:

And some thinkering of how it was done

[Dev] Beta Atmel AVR Studio 5 released

The beta for AVR Studio 5 was released yesterday. I am downloading it now and I am very curious :)

According to Atmel:

AVR Studio 5 is the new Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for developing and debugging embedded AVR applications.

The AVR Studio 5 editor simplifies code editing and lets you write code more efficiently. It supports all 8- and 32-bit AVR microcontrollers, and connects seamlessly to Atmel AVR debuggers and development kits.

AVR Studio 5 beta is made available for users who want to help us test the new version. Users are warned against using the beta release for their mission critical projects.

Link at Atmel

[News] Pizzeria owner tries to sabotage other pizzerias with mice infestation

A pizzeria owner in Pennsylvania sought to sabotage competing shops by infesting them with mice, police say. Nikolas Galiatsatos has been charged with animal cruelty and other offences in Upper Darby, near Philadelphia. He was arrested after officers found a man had stuffed a sack containing live mice into the space above a ceiling panel in a pizzeria bathroom.

Link to BBC UK News