Researcher Vinay Deolalikar from HP labs claims he has solved this Millennium Prize. The 100 page document has not been peer-reviewed yet so there still is hope. If you get a few hours free and want to try keep the hopes of computer scientists alive I attached the document link in this post so feel free to dig in and find some flaws (link). The bad news is that the little information I found on this Deolalikar makes him to be quite a genius. Unfortunately it seems to be the real deal this.

Given that the $ 1 million prize money from the Millennium Prize fund is involved, will guarantee that this document will get enough scrutiny.

For those who didn’t understand the joke in the title read up this link.

So the world is still around. Nothing much has changed. I am officially a 23 year old and having back problems. That has more to do with the horrible chairs at work than my age but I am still going strong. My half life 3 announcement was completely wrong but hopefully it will still happen since its one of my favourite FPS games of all time.

The buzz word in technology is 3D has I predicted in a post some time ago. It seems that one in every 4 or 5 movies can be seen in 3D at the cinemas. So far the only good 3D movie I have seen is Avatar. It was obvious that for Clash of the Titans the 3D version was just added to try encourage people go to the cinema. Right now I will always prefer HD over 3D.

Though the next 3D movie I will watch will be Piranha 3D. It will probably be a stupid movie with a very bad story line but I expect it to be full of funny scary scenes so it might be worth watching it in 3D. The nudity and all the bikinis are just an extra positive (Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT1XUWMqQq0).

When the porn industry backs a technology that is when the technology becomes mainstream. Happened recently with Bluray disks and now 3D has their backing. This is bad news for Flash because they are embracing HTML5 but that is a whole other story. Probably right now I seem like a porn addict.

3D is also popping out in the wild. Samsung and Panasonic pushing their very expensive 3D home solutions which require glasses. Nintendo releasing their new DS which is 3D, requires no glasses and most importantly affordable. You do not need to sell and organ or your first born to buy this gadget. The screens have a poor viewing angle but that is not a problem since to play you need to look directly at the screen. The screens the DS uses is produced by Sharp. Sharp realised that they are leading the way with this technology and hence are now releasing the first 3D smartphone by the end of this year.

Chelsea just lost against Manchester United in the Community Shield so not the best start of this year season but it could be worse and there was a spark from the Chelsea team not like the other boring games from preseason. They should be able to beat WBA next week. Even Sky now are showing the games in 3D. Maybe the next TV I buy will be a 3D flat screen…

Once work dies down I can start working on my side projects again

It is no secret that the N97 has undergone many issues and embarrassments since its release. The N97 has many many flaws but I still think it is one of the best phones you can get right now. The N97 can handle anything you throw at it. This makes the phone the ultimate Jack of All trades phone.

Here is a list of some of the flaws of the phone:

• Made completely out of plastic. A metal phone always feels like it has more quality and sturdiness.
• Some of the design features actually damage the phone. Such as the camera glass protector. This is the ultimate definition of irony. The phone has a lens protector to protect the camera lens from getting scratched. Ironically by using the lens protector you would be actually damaging the lens. Nokia released a fix for this last year but I am still not able to get this fixed because I live in Malta so I would have to pay for the repairs.
• The phone needs a beefier CPU and more RAM and internal (C:) memory. Symbian is very memory efficient though it still needs RAM. The lack of internal C: memory is very annoying. It because a juggling act installing some applications which install on to C: without any option. This leaves the users often backing up, formatting and restoring to try free up some C: memory.
• The keyboard layout could be better. I have gotten use to typing using the keyboard but I still find it awkward inserting phone numbers and pressing spacebar.

There are other issues with the phone but right now that’s all I have come up with. The phone has a lot going for it.

• The LCD screen is transflective. This means that you can see the screen in direct sun light. The N97 is one of the few phones out in the market that support this. The screen will never be as clear as a iPhone and other devices but it’s a phone and you have to be able to see the screen during the day.
• The battery life is utterly epic in this device. Without advancements such as OLED screens and other details the phone is able to function for an irrational amount of time. Under very light usage I can get away with charging my phone every 6 days. The phone can easily cope with heavy usage and will last a day under conditions of checking twitter, facebook, uploading photos, phone calls, checking emails etc. There is also an option to replace the 1500mAh Nokia battery with the 3600mAh Mugen battery which will double the battery life.
• The device has an FM transmitter built in. This allows you to hear songs while you are driving without the use of wires or cradles. Some people also buy FM transmitters to connect to their device.
• Camera protective glass lens. Yes on the original phone it actually damages it. But most people can have this fixed at no added cost. This repair also improves GPS reception. Ohhh Malta Nokia representatives should really stop being so difficult on getting these things fixed.
• 32GB of mass memory on board the device. You know how much data that is. I can carry all my mp3 collection on my phone and still have plenty of space for documents, videos, photos, etc. You even have the option of installing a microSD card to add another 32GB ?!?!?!
• The QWERTY keyboard layout isn’t the best but it is still a good keyboard to use. Allowing you to type very fast. Allowing using to type messages faster than anyone can on touch screen devices.
• When you open the keyboard the screen is angled is allows for easier viewing. It doesn’t always the better text input scenario but when using on a desk this tilted display is a God send. You often see people propping up their devices with books, toast, cats, stones, etc. The most classic I have ever seen was a guy using his iMac Book to prop up his iPad while on the phone using his iPhone.
• The phone has a very capable camera. It would have been better if the phone had Xenon flash. The phone is capable of producing very stunning photos under most circumstances.
• It’s a Nokia device. This means that you will be getting many more services even after you bought the phone. From updates to the OS and applications to services such as free world wide GPS offline navigation.

Not sure how many benefits I have written down but the positives really outweigh the disadvantages.

I have owned the N97 for almost a year as of writing this. Right now I am not thinking of upgrading to another device but when the time comes I will happily consider getting another Nokia phone even though this phone had so many flaws.

Some young boffins had the great idea of using the wasted energy from shock absorbers (car’s suspension) to generate electricity, named Levant Power’s GenShock. All hybrid cars generate power when the driver brakes. Instead of using brake pads (or together not sure) the electric motor is used to slow down the car and by doing so it generates electricity. This electricity is stored in a battery for later. It’s a good idea to do so because in normal cars braking just produces heat.

With the state of our roads in Malta if an electric car owner had to place this device on their suspension the car would generate enough power to continue going forever. Ok I don’t know how much power it would produce but if you are driving on some bad roads I am sure the battery would charge. This would bring a whole new transport situation in Malta. We would start seeing people making more holes in the roads, adding more speed bumps, etc. Malta would be the first country in the world to have their transportation system petrol and diesel free.

This makes me even want to get an electric car.

If you know anyone who has an electric or hybrid car do the right thing and give them this link.

5 points for anyone who can guess what these specific parts will accomplish. These points are not redeemable for anything useful. These points are used to gauge how intelligent I think you are

This is also my first official unboxing. Exciting stuff.

P.S. Ignore my foot in one of the photos.

This June is the return of another important TV event. The I.T. crowd season 4. This is the original UK episodes not the US or German versions. For those who don’t know what the I.T. crowd check out the youtube videos below.

For some strange reason YouTube seems to have disabled embedding the videos into the site. So I will just have to send you to YouTube. The links below will take you a few clips of the I.T. crowd. You don’t have to be a geek to understand the humour.

The I.T. Crowd – This is the Internet

The I.T. Crowd – Customer Support

The I.T. Crowd – Piracy

Here is Microsoft’s reason for cancelling the device:

At any given time, across any of our business groups, there are new ideas being investigated, tested, and incubated. It’s in Microsoft’s DNA to continually develop and incubate new technologies to foster productivity and creativity. The “Courier” project is an example of this type of effort and its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time.

It seems that placing your hard drive in the freezer and then taking it out and plugging it into your PC. Will give you a window where the drive will function correctly and you can take advantage of this and recover the data you require.

I ended up reading a few stories about people who were putting their HD in the freezer to help fix it long enough to be able to recover their data. I guess that by doing this, some metal parts in the HD could contract, putting back in place defective parts, and making everything work again for a few minutes.

Now most of you are saying poppy cock (not sure if that’s how you spell it but I will try not to swear on the site) but it seems to be true. Remove your hard drive and place it in a zip lock bag to prevent condensation getting into the drive. I would place it in two zip lock bags to protect it further. After an hour or two remove the drive from its cold cold grave and plug it into your computer. If you can access the drive, hurry up and recover the data. This is only a temporary solution.

I think the longer you leave it the freezer the better because the drive would get cold. It seems that leaving it in overnight might you a working drive for a whole 20 minutes. So next time your drive fails and you need the data think of using this idea. Either way the drive is dead and there is nothing left to lose.

For all the people who were using it before please delete that version and replace it with this version. The download link is below. Happy pirating and pillaging.

YouTubeMusicPirate