Solar Upgrades
Jul 11, 2008 Sci/Tech
Researchers at MIT have figured out a way to increase the effectiveness of existing solar panels (or create solar power from windows). Here’s a description from the article on just what is happening:
The dye-based organic solar concentrator functions without the use of tracking or cooling systems, greatly reducing the overall cost compared to other concentrator technologies. Dye molecules coated on glass absorb sunlight, and re-emit it at a different wavelengths. The light is trapped and transported within the glass until it is captured by solar cells at the edge. Some light passes through the concentrator and can be absorbed by lower voltage solar cells underneath.
It really seems like alternative energy stuff is picking up speed, which is fantastic. Very cool. H/T to Gizmodo.
Tags: dye, gizmodo, solar, solar power, windows
Batch Rename Digital Photos by Date
Jan 16, 2008 Software
Lifehacker posted a note about Namexif, a quick and dirty tool to rename your digicam photos based on EXIF date info. It’s a feature that you can get via other means (Irfanview and Picasa have ways to do it) buf if you don’t use either of those, you can try this. The comments on that post have a bunch more options, too.
Tags: irfanview, lifehacker, namexif, picasa, Software, windows
GIMP Plugins
Dec 26, 2007 Software
TechZilo has a post with links to more than 40 very useful GIMP plugins. There’s a good mix of things, for example new filters, anti-aliasing plugins, the ability to stitch together panoramic images, and a Save For Web plugin. Some links at the bottom as well for folks who may wish to author their own plugin.
Lifehacker: Update Windows, Linux Style
Dec 19, 2007 Software
Appupdater is a executable that lets you run command line updates for a wide range of applications, going as far back as Windows 98. If you have used the apt or yum package management available in many Linux distros, it works in much the same way. Looks like it could be a real help to those of us who are a bit forgetful about making sure our software is fully up to date.
Tags: appupdater, lifehacker, linux, PC, pc software, Software, windows
Free MS Software…Cost: Your Soul
Dec 11, 2007 Software
Spotted this at Gizmodo. You can get a free copy of Windows Vista Ultimate, Office Ultimate, Money Plus Premium, or other software, all for the price of letting MS track your computer usage for 3 months. That includes surveys every 2 weeks. It all stems from Microsoft’s Windows Feedback Program. To be honest, I am in for this as I wanted a legal copy of Vista. All MS will find out from the PC they track is that my wife loves Diablo II.
edit: Looks like they are all done with this…supplies didn’t last thanks to /. and Gizmodo.
Tags: free software, gizmodo, microsoft, office, office 2007, office ultimate, privacy, security, Software, vista, vista ultimate, windows, windows vista
Lifehacker’s Top 10 Video Rippers, Encoders and Converters
Lifehacker has posted a Top 10 list for Video ripping, encoding and converting. Mostly freeware and open source software, some of which work for Linux and Mac along with Windows. If you wanted some new software to convert your pr0n–er, instructional videos to a format that fits on your iPod or PSP, take a look.
Tags: converter, encoder, lifehacker, linux, mac, ripper, ubuntu, video, windows
