It's Not Too Late...

...To grab a copy of C! Magazine's October issue!!!  I was given the great opportunity to be a guest writer.  This is my first printed article, and I had a lot of fun writing it.  Thank you again to C! Magazine for allowing me to be a contributor!

Tech Trivia: Transparent Aluminum? That's So Yesterday!

Today's Tech Gospel is about Graphene.  Made up of carbon... you know... that thing that makes up all known living things... diamonds... and your #2 pencil?

I don't know how many geeks actually read my blog, but to the few that do... I'm sure you all know the famous scene in the 1986 movie, Star Trek IV, that shows Scotty 'inventing' the formula for "Transparent Aluminum".  A fictional future material that is supposedly as transparent as glass, but as strong as aluminum.

Fast forward to 2008 when the US Military was experimenting with ALON, a transparent aluminum ceramic that is used as military armor and can withstand 50 cal anti-tank rounds.  Due to cost restrictions (I think it costs about $20,000/m²), the military has decided against this amazing armor plating.  ALON exhibits very similar properties to the fictional "futuristic" material in the Star Trek movie.

Fast forward a little more to 2010, when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov win the Nobel Prize in Physics for Graphene.  (It was actually discovered in 2004, but the recent breakthrough was in its fabrication process.)

This wonder material is hundreds of times stronger than steel... 97% transparent... exhibits better electrical and heat conductive properties than copper... is flexible... and is virtually indestructible (although this is a slight exaggeration, it has a Velcro-like property that allows it to pseudo-heal itself on a molecular level so quickly that it appears to not be damaged at all) ... and unlike the former ALON, Graphene is cheap to produce.  And this is not a It-will-be-cheap-sometime-in-the-future... it's actually cheap to produce NOW.

It's applications include everything from military armor, low-cost/high capacity batteries, computers, solar cells, flexible touchscreens, high-strength windows, and recyclable lighting.

Just Looking...

Have you ever wished shopping on Amazon was easier?  Have you ever visited Amazon and thought, "Oh, there absolutely nothing I want to buy from here.".  For those of you that think "Oh, Amazon isn't doing a good enough job of showing me stuff I want to buy."* ... well, your prayers have been answered.  Just when you thought that new iPad would tie your shopping urges over...

Presenting

Windowshop

Because wasn't tempting enough.

*Sarcasm intended

Goodbye iChat... Hello FaceTime!

Today's Tech Gospel is about the FaceTime for Mac Beta.  Finally.  I think everyone found it odd that the iPhone 4's FaceTime app couldn't make video calls to Apple's iChat Video system.

Thankfully Apple reacted quickly and has released a crude FaceTime Beta for Mac.

Now, understand that this is still in Beta, so a lot of features are still a bit buggy, and there is a known security flaw.  Not a big deal unless you frequently allow other people to use your computer.

This, however, is a Snow Leopard only program.  If you haven't upgraded yet, now would be a good time to do so.

For those with Mac Minis, or a Mac Pros, you can use Apple's LCD monitors w/ the built-in camera, iSight camera, or any Firewire video camera lying around.  If you want to buy a webcam, make sure it's the newer UVC compliant webcams.  But I prefer using a proper Firewire video camera w/ a boom mic to eliminate room echo and much better audio quality.

My FaceTime rig is my old Canon DV cam w/ a Rode shotgun mic connected to my Mac Mini.

Do Not Disturb

Today's Tech Gospel is about call and SMS filtering.  I don't know how it is in other countries, but here in the Philippines, we get a ton of ANNOYING telemarketing calls and SMS on our mobiles.  Mostly from real estate agencies, quick loan companies, and credit card companies.

One Android app I've found very handy is EasyFilter.  Although there are  a whole lot more out there, I've come to prefer EasyFilter's particular set of features.  **iOS users can use iBlacklist, although this is only for jailbroken iPhones.  Symbian UIQ users have a basic filter built-in already.**

EasyFilter is very simple to use, you can create a blacklist using existing call or message logs and just select the calls you want blocked.  It can also work in reverse as a whitelist, allowing only the numbers you select to be allowed through.

**Just a note, for those running a Task Manager/Killer, make sure to add EasyFilter to the exception list**