2008-12-29

Patent busting websites

http://www.articleonepartners.com/ get up to $50000 bounty for busting existing patent

http://peertopatent.org/ community review of patents before issuance

http://www.linuxdefenders.org/ open source related patent reviews

2008-12-28

Generating white(/pink/brown/blue/violet) noise with your computer

While there are all kinds of hardware based "white noise" generators are out there, having one installed in your computer could offer a nice personal privacy bubble. Some choices are:
"white noise" generator with sox for Linux
White Noise CD
simplynoise
Serene Sound
Burninwave Generator (read disclaimer first)
thefreesoundproject (white noise)
audio system test files
AMS (audio masking system)

2008-12-20

Online appliance stores

http://www.ffemax.com/ http://www.homeeverything.com/ http://www.us-appliance.com/ http://www.absolutehome.com/ http://www.pcrichard.com/ http://www.universal-akb.com/ http://www.amroyal.com/ http://www.abt.com/ http://www.appliancesonlineus.com/

2008-12-10

Matlab/Mathematica Open Source/GPL clones


Another site listing various math software is Alois' Mathematical Software. Also see Simulation tools for Linux systems.

When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge by K David Harrison (2008)

Human languages are fascinating reflections of the human mind. The author offers engaging examples on the various myths and legends, and storytellers; classification of plants, animals, seasons; map perceptions and expression of (relative) directions; timekeeping and calendaring techniques; (body part based) numbering schemes; object/subject/gender information packaging made up by our human species, and argues that the loss of these languages is losing human knowledge gathered for millenniums. This is certainly to be argued for, and the knowledge preservation work the author and other linguists are doing is very valuable in this regard. The dilemma is that achieving preservation might not mean these languages are able to survive. While there are certainly cases, when oppressive governments cause languages to assimilate or disappear altogether, in most cases societal changes are the causes. The problem is, that many of these languages are ill suited for modern life, and do not exhibit the required flexibility to adapt. Also I do not think, it is for the author to decide, that reindeer herders are to stick to their previous style of life and so keep their language well suited for the old lifestyle going, and should not be given a choice to get a degree (possible in linguistics of the disappearing languages) outside their home village, and possibly to join the author in his noble academic quest.

Free (although limited functionality) tax preparation software

http://www.taxact.com/

http://www.taxslayer.com/classic.aspx

http://turbotax.intuit.com/

2008-12-05

Rainbow tables

Rainbow tables are used to find the original plaintext for a hashed password. The password can be hashed using different hashroutines, where the most common are MD5, LM and NTLM.

http://www.freerainbowtables.com/

http://www.freerainbowtables.com/en/faq/