Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, February 21, 2011

Gmail and Google Docs Add a Dozen New Document Types You Can View Online [Gmail]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/#!5766007/gmail-and-google-docs-add-a-dozen-new-document-types-you-can-view-online

What do you do when you get a Photoshop file, a PowerPoint 2007 presentation, or an Adobe PostScript document and you lack the proper app to open it? Grimace, usually—until you realize that Gmail, via Google Docs, can now open a dozen new files that you might lack (or decidedly don't want) the proper app for.

For those trying to do more work in just their browser, or anyone needing to look at image files or newer Microsoft Office documents, this particular set of file types is a Godsend. Hit the "View" link in Gmail, or upload them to Google Docs, and you can view any of the following:

<blockquote

>Microsoft Excel (.XLS and .XLSX)
Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 / 2010 (.PPTX)
Apple Pages (.PAGES)
Adobe Illustrator (.AI)
Adobe Photoshop (.PSD)
Autodesk AutoCad (.DXF)
Scalable Vector Graphics (.SVG)
PostScript (.EPS, .PS)
TrueType (.TTF)
XML Paper Specification (.XPS)

Hopefully the browser extensions and bookmarklets that already make PDFs and PowerPoint files less of a pain, like this Chrome extension, will soon update to give us access to all the new files one can glimpse at with clicking "Save as" or "Open with."

12 new file formats in the Google Docs Viewer [Docs Blog]

VLC-Shares Streams Any Video to Your Android, AirPlay-Style [Downloads]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/#!5766024/vlc+shares-streams-any-video-to-your-android-airplay+style

Windows/Linux (and Android): Apple's AirPlay tech, set up the right way, flings any video you want to see to any Apple/iOS device you own. Get a similar universal streaming setup for your Android with VLC-Shares.

One thing VLC-Shares is not is a one-click setup. It requires running a small form of an Apache web server on your computer, a bit of fine-tuning the VLC media player, and perhaps some of port configuration through your router, if you're not already set up. When everything's up and running, though, you can share any folder on your computer through VLC-Shares, and then play it on your Android device of choice from anywhere on the same Wi-Fi network. Really handy if you're rocking an Android tablet, and still pretty neat if you're doing a little lazy-viewing from your couch or bed.

There are setup instructions at VLC-Shares' home but, honestly, you're better off reading the detailed tutorial at the How-To Geek's home (at the via link). VLC-Shares is a free download for Windows and Linux systems (and Android phones).

VLC-Shares [Google Code via The How-To Geek]

Most Tourists Take Pictures From the Same Spot [Photography]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/#!5765650/most-tourists-take-pictures-from-the-same-spot/gallery/

Corinne Vionnet, an artist, has a set of images showing the most famous landmarks around the world. But she didn't photograph or paint them. Instead, she superimposed hundreds of pictures taken by tourists to create one artsy, almost haunting, image. It's sorta surprising how everyone seems to take pictures of landmarks the same way. [MyModernMet via Geekosystem]

This is the Taj Mahal. You can see people in the foreground.

Tiananmen Square. Yeah I took this exact picture

A little more chaotic image of the Coliseum—I would believe someone if they told me they painted this.

Stonehenge

Apple announcing new high-speed interconnect, Light Peak here we come?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/20/apple-announcing-new-high-speed-interconnect-light-peak-here-we/

There's not a scrap of evidence to back this rumor, but everything seems to line up: CNET reports that Apple will announce "a new high-speed connection technology" soon -- and Intel's Light Peak seems to be a shoo-in for the job. We've long known that Apple's been secretly backing the 10Gbps interconnect, but with a likely MacBook Pro refresh right around the corner and Light Peak allegedly due for a 1H 2011 launch, it seems the time for action could be right around now. It also doesn't hurt that this latest rumor comes from CNET, actually, as we're pretty sure the publication has an inside source. The very same reporter wrote that Light Peak would be downgraded to copper, a full month before Intel would admit anything of the sort.

Apple announcing new high-speed interconnect, Light Peak here we come? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Feb 2011 08:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | CNET | Email this | Comments

Google's Native Client almost 'ready for takeoff,' ready to make ActiveX look visionary

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/20/googles-native-client-almost-ready-for-takeoff-ready-to-make/

We're almost there, almost to the release of the Native Client we first got wind of last May. It is, basically, a way to run native code within a browser -- low-end stuff capable of delivering performance good enough for 3D games and the like. Christian Stefansen, a Google Product Manager, said that the stuff is getting closer to delivery, that the team behind it has reached an "important milestone," that code will be "as portable and secure as JavaScript." It was of course security, or the lack thereof, that derailed Microsoft's plans for this sort of functionality in Internet Explorer via ActiveX, a stigma that technology has still yet to escape from. Will Native Client do better? Will Crysis ever be available in the Chrome Web Store? Could a Cr-48 run it anyway? Questions questions...

Google's Native Client almost 'ready for takeoff,' ready to make ActiveX look visionary originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Feb 2011 10:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink