Mengenal WordPress...

WordPress adalah sebuah aplikasi  sumber terbuka (open source) yang sangat populer digunakan sebagai mesin blog (blog engine).
WordPress dibangun dengan bahasa pemrograman PHP dan basis data (database) MySQL. PHP dan MySQL, keduanya merupakan perangkat lunak sumber terbuka  (open source software).
Selain sebagai blog, WordPress juga mulai digunakan sebagai sebuah CMS  (Content Management System) karena kemampuannya untuk dimodifikasi dan disesuaikan dengan kebutuhan penggunanya

Sejarah WordPress dimulai saat Matt Mullenweg yang merupakan pengguna aktif dari b2 mengetahui bahwa proses pengembangan b2 dihentikan oleh pemrogramnya  (programmer) yang bernama Michel Valdrighi, Matt Mullenweg merasa sayang dan mulai melanjutkan pengembangan b2.

WordPress muncul pertama kali di tahun 2003 hasil kerja keras Matt Mullenweg dengan Mike Little. Yang membuat WordPress makin terkenal, selain karena banyaknya fitur dan tampilan yang menarik, adalah juga karena dukungan komunitas terhadap perangkat lunak sumber terbuka untuk blog.

WordPress menyediakan dua alamat yang berbeda, yaitu WordPress.com dan WordPress.org.

WordPress.com merupakan situs layanan blog yang menggunakan mesin WordPress, didirikan oleh perusahaan Automattic. Dengan mendaftar pada situs WordPress.com, pengguna tidak perlu melakukan instalasi atau konfigurasi yang cukup sulit. Sayangnya, pengguna WordPress.com tidak dapat mengubah template standar yang sudah disediakan. Artinya, pengguna tidak dapat menambahkan asesori apa pun selain yang sudah disediakan. Meski demikian, fitur yang disediakan oleh WordPress.com sudah cukup bagus.

WordPress.org merupakan wilayah pengembang (developer). Di alamat ini, seseorang dapat mengunduh (download) aplikasi beserta seluruh berkas CMS WordPress. Selanjutnya, CMS ini dapat diubah ulang selama seseorang menguasai PHP, CSS dan skrip lain yang menyertainya.

WordPress memiliki banyak keunggulan dan fitur untuk dunia blog, antara lain :

    * Gratis. Untuk mendapatkan perangkat lunak WordPress hanya perlu mengunduh dari situsnya (www.wordpress.org) tanpa dipungut biaya, bahkan untuk blog komersial sekalipun.
    * Berbasis kode sumber terbuka (Open Source). Pengguna dapat melihat dan memperoleh barisan kode-kode penyusun perangkat lunak WordPress tersebut secara bebas, sehingga pengguna tingkat lanjut yang memiliki kemampuan pemrograman dapat bebas melakukan modifikasi, bahkan dapat mengembangkan sendiri program WordPress tersebut lebih lanjut sesuai keinginan.
    * Template atau desain tampilannya mudah dimodifikasi sesuai keinginan pengguna. Sehingga apabila pengguna memiliki pengetahuan HTML yang memadai, maka pengguna tersebut dapat berkreasi membuat template sendiri. Pengguna yang tidak mengerti HTML, tentu saja masih dapat memilih ribuan template yang tersedia di internet secara bebas, yang tentu saja gratis (http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/).
    * Pengoperasiannya mudah. Bagi pemula, tentu hal ini amat membantu.
    * Satu blog WordPress, dapat digunakan untuk banyak pengguna (multi user). Sehingga WordPress juga sering digunakan untuk blog komunitas. Anggota komunitas tersebut dapat berperan sebagai kontributor.
    * Jika pengguna sebelumnya telah mempunyai blog tidak berbayar, misalnya di alamat Blogger / Blogspot, LiveJournal, TypePad, dan beberapa mesin blog lain, pengguna dapat mengimpor isi blog-blog tersebut ke alamat hosting blog pribadi yang menggunakan perangkat lunak WordPress. Dengan demikian pengguna tidak perlu khawatir isi blog yang lama akan menjadi sia-sia setelah menggunakan perangkat lunak WordPress.
    * Selain pengguna yang banyak, banyak pula dukungan komunitas (community support) untuk WordPress.
    * Tersedia banyak plugin yang selalu berkembang (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/).
    * Kemampuan untuk dapat memunculkan XML, XHTML, dan CSS standar.
    * Tersedianya struktur permalink yang memungkinkan mesin pencari mengenali struktur blog dengan baik.
    * Kemungkinan untuk meningkatkan performa blog dengan ekstensi (http://wordpress.org/extend/).
    * Mampu mendukung banyak kategori untuk satu artikel. Dengan multi kategorisasi ini pencarian dan pengaksesan informasi menjadi lebih mudah.
    * Fasilitas Trackback dan Pingback.
    * Fasilitas format teks dan gaya teks. WordPress menyediakan fitur pengelolaan teks yang cukup lengkap. Fitur – fitur format dan gaya teks pada kebanyakan perangkat lunak pengolah kata seperti cetak tebal, cetak miring, rata kanan, rata kiri, tautan tersedia di WordPress.
    * Halaman statis (Halaman khusus yang terpisah dari kumpulan tulisan pada blog).
    * Mendukung LaTeX.

A car for the environment, the inspiration from the tadpole

The inspiration in designing to harmonious vehicle with the environment by prototype idea from the tadpole, which somebody might seem like an egg but, I think it is like the tadpole because, the front of a car is oval but the rear gets back to narrow is like is the tail

Features a lightweight and body made of aluminum that emits close to no CO2 and reduces the weight and fuel consumption of the car for better efficiency. The integrated lithium-ion battery can propel the car at up to 60 km/h of speed which would be quite enough for the busy future city streets.

Beside, the design not only features excellent visual expression with red LED tail light and dark tinted windshield, also gives a feel of safe, unique and green driving experience.

Designer: Alan Gerardo Farias

If you liked this vehicle, you would also be interested in:
www.tuvie.com

3rd Quarter 2010 Previews

Over at the website NJOE.com, I do a weekly Friday column called A Galaxy Not So Far Away - which is now going to be reposted here at F&SF Lovin' as well. In this column I mostly do reviews of non-Star Wars books from former or current Star Wars authors, as well as other media tie-in books (TV, movies, videogames) and even branching out into general Sci-Fi or Fantasy releases that might be of interest to readers looking to branch out. I also do a quarterly preview of the books coming out that might get covered by the column, and it's with that which I start here...

with gaming tie-ins, which is a nice way to move into both science fiction and fantasy genres. First up is a look at Karen Traviss’ upcoming Gears of War book, Anvil Gate – the third book in this series. Traviss has recently announced that she’s both writing Gears of War 3 the game, as well as penning new novels in the series as well. Below is the blurb for Anvil Gate, coming out August 31st.

With the Locust Horde apparently destroyed, Jacinto's survivors have begun to rebuild human society on their island stronghold. Raiding pirate gangs take a toll - but it's nothing that Marcus Fenix and the Gears can't handle. Then the terrifying life-forms they thought they'd left behind - the Lambent, creatures even the Locust feared - begin to advance across the planet. Gears and gangs must fight side by side to stop their deadliest enemy yet, falling back on the savage tactics of another bloody siege: Anvil Gate.

Another series that Traviss has contributed to is Halo, and there was news recently that the original trilogy of novels will be re-released in special editions with new material – the first of which is Halo: The Fall of Reach by Eric S. Nylund coming August 3rd. More reissues with new material from the Halo series are to come later this year. Last month I gave you a look at the blurb for Alex Irvine’s Transformers: Exodus novel – now with this book’s imminent release on June 22nd, the cover has been revealed. I’m already reading this book, and you can expect a review of it soon – but here are a few choice excerpts from the press release (as revealed by Graeme at his blog) to give you a feel for the story:
Telling one of the most important stories in the TRANSFORMERS canon, this novel explores and expands upon the origins of the supervillain MEGATRON, leader of the evil DECEPTICONS, and the rise of OPTIMUS PRIME to leadership of the heroic AUTOBOTS. …TRANSFORMERS: EXODUS takes fans deep into the secret lore of the TRANSFORMERS universe, charting the creation of the DECEPTICONS and the AUTOBOTS—and chronicling the civil war that divided them. At the center of this thrilling history are OPTIMUS PRIME and MEGATRON, the ultimate hero and the ultimate villain, whose destinies are entwined with that of their home planet, CYBERTRON. …this is a canonical TRANSFORMERS tale that also relates to, and expands on, the story being told in the upcoming video game, TRANSFORMERS: War for Cybertron, from Activision.

Also at Graeme’s blog, he had given a look at the press release for the July 20th novel in the Dead Space series, called Martyr by B.K. Evenson. I found the cover blurb at Amazon, which sets the tone I’d expect in the book: We have seen the future.

A universe cursed with life after death.

It all started deep beneath the Yucatan peninsula, where an archaeological discovery took us into a new age, bringing us face-to-face with our origins and destiny.

Michael Altman had a theory no one would hear.

It cursed our world for centuries to come.

This, at last, is his story.

Moving over to Mass Effect, Drew Karpyshyn’s next novel in that series, Retribution, is coming out July 27th, and a blurb has shown up for that as well:

Humanity has reached the stars, joining the vast galactic community of alien species. But beyond the fringes of explored space lurk the Reapers, a race of sentient starships bent on “harvesting” the galaxy’s organic species for their own dark purpose.

The Illusive Man, leader of the pro-human black ops group Cerberus, is one of the few who know the truth about the Reapers. To ensure humanity’s survival, he launches a desperate plan to uncover the enemy’s strengths—and weaknesses—by studying someone implanted with modified Reaper technology. He knows the perfect subject for his horrific experiments: former Cerberus operative Paul Grayson, who wrested his daughter from the cabal’s control with the help of Ascension project director Kahlee Sanders.

But when Kahlee learns that Grayson is missing, she turns to the only person she can trust: Alliance war hero Captain David Anderson. Together they set out to find the secret Cerberus facility where Grayson is being held. But they aren’t the only ones after him. And time is running out.

As the experiments continue, the sinister Reaper technology twists Grayson’s mind. The insidious whispers grow ever stronger in his head, threatening to take over his very identity and unleash the Reapers on an unsuspecting galaxy.

Drew is also writing a fantasy book called Children of Fire, which has not yet been sold to a publisher (though he hopes for publication sometime mid-2011). Speaking of upcoming novels, I’ve shown the cover for Deep State (the sequel to Walter Jon Williams’ This is Not A Game) before, but now Orbit has released the description for this Feb 2011 book as well:

Dagmar Shaw is back at it again. She is the Puppetmaster and this time thousands of gamers are dancing on her strings. But when the game she is running in Turkey comes into conflict with the new, brutal regime, she realizes that games have consequences.

When an old friend approaches Dagmar with a project so insane, so ambitious, she can’t possibly say no, she is plunged into a world of spies and soldiers. Dagmar is a Puppetmaster, but when the bullets are real and her ‘puppets’ start dying, is any cause worth it? A nation hangs in the balance and in a world of intrigue and betrayal, Dagmar needs to figure out just what part she plays.

Already out from Walter Jon Willams is his new collection, The Green Leopard Plague, described by the author thus:

Contained in the volume are two stories that actually won Nebula Awards, as well as other stories that were nominated for Nebulas, Hugos, and/or Sidewises, but due to some horrid cosmic accident did not actually win. Plus there's an introduction by Charles Stross and afterwards to the stories by my ownself, which contain fascinating insights into my Art, Life, and Character.

According to Amazon, a new World of Warcraft novel from Christie Golden, called The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm is due to come out on August 31st, but so far there’s no cover nor description available. Another World of Warcraft book, Chronicles of War, which sounds like it might be a short story collection is due out December 7th, featuring Christie Golden and Jeff Grubb among others. For those looking to get a feel for Jeff Grub’s writing in advance of his 2011 Star Wars novel, he also has a Guild Wars novel coming out this July 27th, called Ghosts of Ascalon.

250 years ago, Ascalon burned . . .
Desperate to defend his land from advancing hordes of bestial charr, King Adelbern summoned the all-powerful Foefire to repel the invaders. But magic can be a double-edged sword—the Foefire burned both charr and human alike. While the charr corpses smoldered, the slain Ascalonians arose again, transformed by their king’s rage into ghostly protectors and charged with guarding the realm . . . forever. The once mighty kingdom became a haunted shadow of its former glory.

Centuries later, the descendants of Ascalon, exiled to the nation of Kryta, are besieged on all sides. To save humankind, Queen Jennah seeks to negotiate a treaty with the hated charr. But one obstacle remains. The charr legions won’t sign the truce until their most prized possession, the Claw of the Khan-Ur,is returned from the ruins of fallen Ascalon.

Now a mismatched band of adventurers, each plagued by ghosts of their own, sets forth into a haunted, war-torn land to retrieve the Claw. Without the artifact, there is no hope for peace between human and charr—but the undead king who rules Ascalon won’t give it up easily, and not everyone wants peace!

With Pathfinder launching there new line of tie-in books, Elaine Cunningham’s September15th release, Winter Witch, has gotten a new cover and an official blurb:

In a village of the frozen north, a child is born possessed by a strange and alien spirit, only to be cast out by her tribe and taken in by the mysterious winter witches of Irrisen, a land locked in permanent magical winter. Farther south, a young mapmaker with a penchant for forgery discovers that his sham treasure maps have begun striking gold.

This is the story of Ellasif, a barbarian shield maiden who will stop at nothing to recover her missing sister, and Decclan, the ne’er-do-well young spellcaster-turned-forger who wants only to prove himself to the woman he loves. Together they’ll face monsters, magic, and the fury of Ellasif’s own cold-hearted warriors in their quest to rescue the lost child. Yet when they finally reach the ice-walled city of Whitethrone, where trolls hold court and wolves roam the streets as men, will it be too late to save the girl from the forces of darkness?

Most well known for his work with Wizards of the Coast, R.A. Salvatore also has the conclusion to the Saga of the First King series coming out August 17th called The Bear:

The war of Honce drags on, and the roads and seas are littered with bodies. To everyone’s stunned disbelief, Yeslnik the Fool has tipped the war’s scales in his favor. The reign of the newly self-appointed King Yeslnik is already distinguished as the most bloody and merciless in Honce history.

Trapped, Dame Gwydre and Father Artolivan concoct a desperate plot to join forces with Laird Ethelbert, the lesser of two vicious evils. But Ethelbert’s paid assassins slew Jameston Sequin and nearly did the same to Bransen.

Embittered by it all, Bransen seeks to extricate himself from the selfish goals of all of combatants. But in an odd twist of fate and crossed loyalties, Bransen sees in his old nemesis, Bannagran--the Bear of Honce and the man who slew his adoptive father - a darker image of his own heart. Allies and battle lines become tangled, motives indistinguishable as old friends become enemies and old enemies become allies.

Karen Miller, also known as K.E. Mills, has two books coming out this Quarter, The Reluctant Mage (July 28th) and Wizard Squared (June 29th), both of which I’ve covered previously in this column. With the release of Kevin Anderson’s next Terra Incognita novel, The Map of All Things on June 21st, there’s an excerpt available online from book 1, The Edge of the World, a promo video for the new book, a wallpaper of the cover from the publisher, and an interview with the author. And because it's from Alex Ross (and it was one of my favorite reads last year), here's the cover for the MMP release of Anderson's Enemies and Allies, coming out on September 28th.

In a previous column I had talked about Joe Schreiber’s Supernatural novel and Timothy Zahn’s Terminator book – well, an excerpt from the already released The Unholy Cause is now available, and Trial by Fire is finally coming out July 27th. Along those same lines, Wizards of the Coast has released an Omnibus featuring the entire Forgotten Realms Erevis Cale trilogy as well as two short stories featuring the character. The Erevis books have also been made available as e-books, for those who prefer to read that way.

Paul Kemp has also released his own short fiction anthology via Kindle, which you can check out more information on here. In similar news, Zapptek Legends is bringing stories to iphone/ipod touch including Aaron Allson and Mike Stackpole, which you can read more about here.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch has had an e-book release as well, The Paparazzi of Dreams. A bunch of her stories are also available for free online such as Hollywood Ending, What the Monster Saw, Dark Man (part 1, part 2) from the anthology Is There Anybody Out There?

Speaking of anthologies, a fun sounding one reprinting the early work of many names in Science Fiction and Fantasy called Before They Were Giants is coming out September 21st, collecting the first published stories of 15 of science fiction and fantasy's most important authors providing brand-new retrospective critiques and interviews discussing the stories' geneses, how publication affected their lives, and what they know now about writing that they wish they'd known then, including the following contributions:

Piers Anthony: "Possible to Rue"
Greg Bear: "Destroyers"
Ben Bova: "A Long Way Back"
David Brin: "Just a Hint"
Cory Doctorow: "Craphound"
William Gibson: "Fragments of a Hologram Rose"
Nicola Griffith: "Mirrors and Burnstone"
Joe Haldeman: "Out of Phase"
China Miéville: "Highway 61 Revisited"
Larry Niven: "The Coldest Place"
Kim Stanley Robinson: "In Pierson’s Orchestra"
Spider Robinson: "The Guy with the Eyes"
R. A. Salvatore: "A Sparkle for Homer"
Charles Stross: "The Boys"
Michael Swanwick: "Ginungagap"

Finally, some Warhammer 40K 3Q releases that are on my radar – release dates, blurbs, and covers:

Enforcer by Matt Farrer (July 6) excerpt:

Enforcer Shira Calpurnia maintains a tough line on law and order in the Hydraphur system. Home to Imperial warfleets, this area of space is riven with violence and corruption. Calpurnia's duty is to protect the innocent and punish the guilty - with extreme prejudice. This omnibus collects the novels Crossfire, Legacy and Blind as well as new content from Matt Farrer.

Nemesis by James Swallow (July 27) excerpt:

After the horrors of Istvaan V, Horus declares outright war against the Imperium. In the shadows of the Emperor's Palace, powerful figures convene.Their plan is to send a team of assassins to execute the arch-traitor Horus and end the war for the galaxy of mankind before it's even begun. But what they cannot know is that another assassin is abroad already, with his sights firmly set on killing the Emperor.

Throne of Lies (audiobook) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

The Night Lords are among the most feared Chaos Space Marines in the universe.They prey on their victims from the shadows, stalking the faithful of the FalseImperium in their ultimate quest to destroy the Emperor. The warband of the Exalted, travelling aboard The Covenant of Blood, are recovering from the events at Crythe Primus. But their dark crusade against the loyal Imperial forces continues, and they will leave a trail of blood and terror behind them.

Fear the Alien edited by Christian Dunn (August 31) - including a story by NJOE.com member James Gilmer (patchworkz7):

The Imperium of Man has many enemies among the stars, but none are reviled so much as the alien. Dangerous races seek to destroy humanity wherever they turn –the brutish orks, the ravening hordes of the tyranid, the unrelenting necrons and the mysterious forces of the tau and the eldar. Across the universe, humanity and their defenders, the Space Marines, seek to eradicate these xenos threats. Yet all they can hope for is another day of survival – for to stand against the alien is to enter an unending war... Featuring stories by Dan Abnett, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Nick Kyme, Juliet McKenna, C.L. Werner and many more, Fear the Alien is an unmissable collection for fans of Warhammer 40,000 and military science fiction.

The Hunt for Voldorius by Andy Hoare (Sept 7)

Captain Kor'sarro Khan of the White Scars is petitioned by his Chapter Master to hunt down and destroy the daemon prince Voldorius, a warleader of the renegade Alpha Legion, thus ending his reign of terror across the stars. Hunting the beast doggedly for over a decade, Kor'sarro finally brings Voldorius to battle on Quintus, a world that has totally given itself over to the Alpha Legion. Together with their Raven Guard allies, the White Scars must fight an entire planet if they are to slay the daemon prince.

Preview of "The Way of Kings" by Brandon Sanderson

I have become a big fan of Brandon Sanderson over the last few years. I was hooked from his first book "Elantris" and have enjoyed watching him progress in his own writing and as the author chosen to take over Robert Jordan's iconic "Wheel of Time" series. And like so many other fantasy fans I was immediately interested when I heard he was releasing the first book in a new series in late August of this year. The Way of Kings is the first book in the "Stormlight Archive."

Widely acclaimed for his work completing Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time saga, Brandon Sanderson now begins a grand cycle of his own, one every bit as ambitious and immersive.

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Speak again the ancient oaths,

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.

And now Tor Books has posted the first 50 pages of "The Way of Kings"-- which includes the prelude and the first three chapters. I have a link to a PDF file that you can click on now to read the prelude and if you want to read the next three chapters, head over to Tor Books to keep reading.

And get ready for a lot more to come-- it looks like "The Way of Kings" is going to weigh in at a hefty 1000+ pages.

Co2 electric bicycle, the idea from a leaf

Designing bicycle for the environment really, should implicate natural fact for be guideline in designing. It might cause the acceptance from the user and make harmonious with the nature

The "Co2" is an electric bicycle concept to allow safe and sustainable commutation in urban environments. There is designing idea is from the natural process of photosynthesis, windows, exposing inside chloroplast to the sunlight, to accomplish the photosynthesis process to move the bike on sustainable energy.

The conversion of chemical energy to kinetic energy is a brand new form to transmit the environmental consciousness. The bike concept not only cuts the fuel cost but also reduces the carbon emissions, making cities a better place to live.

Featuring a utility steering wheel to monitor the amount of power and control the speed, the sustainable bike also includes a suspension fork system and rear shock absorber system, while the treadle assists the rider to get on the bike with ease and offers motor energy to produce electricity in cloudy weather.

The Co2 also include transmission motors on the left and right wheels to power the bike.

Designer: Tang Ming-deng







If you liked this bicycle, you would also be interested in:
www.thedesignblog.org

Are we headed into the worst movie season ever?

About a week or so ago I was asked what genre films I thought would do well this summer, so I put together a list of six movies and a couple of sentences about whether I thought they would do well or not. I should have linked to the article... but I didn't.

Here's why.

I'm having second thoughts about my predictions because I'm not sure any genre films are going to be runaway hits this year.

When I wrote the article I was starting to get a little excited over "Jonah Hex," the comic-based film starring Josh Brolin and Megan Fox in a kind of Western/fantasy mash-up. The trailers looked fun and I thought it could be a great popcorn film in the fashion of "Hell Boy." But there have been some murmurs that the advance word is the movie isn't that good-- which is why we haven't seen many trailers for it. On the other hand, they said the same thing about "Avatar."

But I can't say I've been truly eager to see any of the upcoming summer releases. There is a chance I might be able to get into an advance screening of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," starring Nicholas Cage, and if I am able to get into an early viewing I bet I can dreg up some enthusiasm for seeing it even though my feelings have been decidedly lukewarm up to this point.

My thoughts on the rest of the list are basically along the same lines as they are for "Jonah Hex" and "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." I have no real interest in "The Last Airbender" even though I have watched enough of the cartoons to know the story-- I just doesn't get me revved up. And don't even get me started on the newest "Twilight" movie.. I can't even be bothered to look up it's proper name. If I had to list one genre film I have some interest in it would be "Inception," but that's based more on the fact that it's directed by Christopher Nolan than anything else. I could also mention the cartoon sequels to "Shrek" and "Toy Story" but...why?

If I'm looking forward to anything this summer it's the mindless action films that don't fit into the fantasy/sci-fi genre. "Knight and Day" appeals to me because it has Tom Cruise playing off of his reputation as crazy-- you gotta love that he's willing to make fun of that (at least I do). And "The A-Team" is pure nostalgia-- it probably won't be that good, but it has Liam Neeson, so it won't be a total loss.

But could I say I'm really, really excited to see anything this year? Not really. I could probably skip the theater throughout the whole season and not feel like I missed anything.

How about you?

Universal Phone, can use with both blind and sighted people

We know everybody designer has the kindhearted and determined to build modern cellphone innovation at modern by emphasize for the blind has can use a cellphone smoothly. such as, designing cover for iPhone have the skin swells or designing application that make a camera of a cellphone can read the object around user, make a noise loud come out for replace using eyes

Today, there is one designing cellphone idea commonly and easiness, that important still can use with both blind and sighted people by use the principle designs of a button swell by thousands of micro pins dynamically raise and lower forming a tactile surface for all to get touchy with, make before press can know that want to press what is the number? And when press already, still can fondle number area that wants call out for know can dial be correct as well. This phone call that "Universal Phone"

Sighted people get the elusive tactile feedback they’re missing with ordinary touch-screens and blind people get a whole new interface made of braille. The idea was inspired by the little raised dot on the number 5 on almost all mobile keypads.

Designer: Seunghan Song

If you liked this cellphone, you would also be interested in:
www.yankodesign.com

Aplikasi Web Server pada Lokal Komputer

Untuk mencoba menjadi Web Developer atau lainnya, dengan mencoba membuat web page, ada beberapa yang bisa dilakukan secara lokal terlebih dahulu, sehingga kita bisa melakukan verifikasi dan validasi terlebih dahulu dari web page yang kita buat.

Pertanyaannya bagaimana menjalankan web page pada lokal komputer dimana kita membutuhkan aplikasi web server.

Tidak perlu mempunyai server computer yang sangat besar untuk menjalankan aplikasi web server, ada beberapa solusi aplikasi yang sangat mudah, ringan dan cukup lengkap yang bisa kita pilih.

Contoh aplikasi yang akan kita install adalah XAMPP yang bisa didapat di http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html

Kita bisa memilih untuk mendownload XAMPP sesuai dari operating system yang kita pakai, contoh disini kita akan mendownload untuk sistem operasi Windows
Setelah itu kita memilih Download, dan pilih versi sesuai yang kita inginkan

Setelah download selesai, kita bisa menjalankan langsung file installer XAMPP yang telah kita download

Kita akan menginstall XAMPP untuk system operasi Windows dengan versi XAMPP 1.7.3

Kemudian kita pilih di directory dan folder apa XAMPP akan di install, dalam contoh kali ini kita akan menginstall di C:\ dan lanjutkan dengan klik install

Kemudian setelah installation progress bar full dari kiri ke kanan, dan instalasi selesai, kita bisa jalankan XAMPP Control Panel dan Tekan Start pada service yang ingin dijalankan

Test dengan menggunakan web browser

Pilih bahasa yang digunakan

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"Dew" The futuristic mobile displays in 3D hologram

This is most fantastically cool looking conceptual designs, almost unbelievable that it is will possible. It’s designing idea wearable gadgets portable and functional also gives a style statement to the wearer

The "Dew", the futuristic mobile device displays content in 3D hologram and features a ball in the middle that works as a controller, can slide the ball in different directions, which changes colors to indicate different modes

Designer: Mac Funamizu

If you liked this product design, you would also be interested in:
www.yankodesign.com

A quick question about the female super hero

I'm working on a post for a blog I've been asked to contribute to over at Elder Signs Press that has to do with female super heroes and I could use a little help.

I don't want to tell you what my post is about because I'm sure the comments will have the potential to bias the direction I'm taking on this piece. So you'll just have to wait (hint-- that means I hope you'll read the post when I let you know it's up) and see where I take the information I'm hoping you'll provide here.

Who do you think of when I say "female super hero?" Do you think of Wonder Woman or Xena? Are you all about Buffy the Vampire Slayer or someone less well known like Emma Frost? And what characteristics come to mind when you think of your favorite heroine? Do you think about her powers? Her costume? Or perhaps her other, more exaggerated attributes?

No need to get into a super-detailed answer. I'm just trying to get an idea of who and what you think of when you hear "female" and "super hero" in the same sentence.

Any input would be appreciated.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" Featurette

Whether 'tis nobler to wear a faux-hawk or speak Klingon...

There was a "Toys 'R Us" jingle I used to hear incessantly when I was a kid that you might recognize...I don't want to grow up, I'm a "Toys 'R Us" kid.. and it seems to have been rather prescient, or it could just be a reflection of the generation that spawned it.

No one seems interested in growing up anymore.

Okay, maybe it's an exaggeration to say no one, but would it be over-the-top to say hardly anyone?

A few days ago I put up a post featuring some rather child-like adult footwear. Now, I'm not judging if someone wants to wear shoes with Batman painted on them-- to each his own. But it did get me thinking about the lengths we'll go to in order to hang on to a little piece of our youth.

When I was a kid, people grew old in a way we don't really see anymore. My grandparents were your stereotypical gray-haired, wrinkled old fogeys by the time they were sixty. No hair-dye or Botox for them. Nowadays sixty seems to be all about gathering steam for retirement and christening that new-found freedom with a tattoo-- anyone with a gym membership knows this is true.

But I wonder if there is a particular brand of immaturity that is more accepted than others?

I like fantasy and science fiction-- therefore I am a geek. At least that's the most common endearment I run into. I'm not a hard-core type. I have a blog where I do reviews and talk about things science-fictiony but I don't carry it too far into my personal life other than my taste in movies and books. But what if I did?

I'm a generation removed from the baby-boom-- my dad's a boomer in fact. I remember magazines that sat on our coffee table that spoke of the boomers with captions like "The Me Generation" and whether you agree that the boomers are self-absorbed or not, you have to concede that they have been the first generation to embrace every youth-in-bottle fad there is. I won't go so far to say that they're the biggest consumers of plastic surgery--but that's only because I don't have the statistics right in front of me.

But fads don't start and end with the boomers. I'm a suburban housewife and that has its stereotypes and cliques. Suburbia has a lot of malls, hair salons and gyms. It's a unique fishbowl in which to observe and interact with people. We all have our keeping-up-with-the-Joneses moments but I find that no one is that interested in keeping up with me. Don't get me wrong, we live in a great place. It's the picturesque kind of place with a park down the street lots of parent volunteers at the school-- but they don't really get what I do. They think it sounds good in theory, but I don't read those kind of books is the most common refrain I hear. I'm kind of shy about revealing my hobby anymore. It has made me wonder if my hobbies are a bit childish.

But then I got to thinking about it.

I go to the gym almost everyday and it's a great place to people-watch. I live in California, so our gyms may be different than what you see in the Midwest-- I have no idea. You get a lot of people like myself-- those of us just trying to minimize the middle-age spread. But then you also get faux--hawk wearing, tattooed, tanned hard-bodies that wouldn't be caught dead in anything but designer clothing. Is it weird that so many men wear designer jeans?

And it occurred to me while watching my fellow gym-goers that we all have our own kind of immaturity. My way of clinging to my childhood trends toward cartoons and an embarrassing anticipation for the new "A-Team" movie. Is that so wrong?

It seems like a certain type of quirkiness is more socially acceptable than others. Hollywood has made it seem normal to turn your skin into a strange shade of orange and surgically enhance (or diminish) certain parts of the anatomy--and don't get me started on the behavior coming out of that town these days. Does anyone see the merits of behaving like an adult anymore? Since I live in California it isn't unusual to see my fellow suburbanites emulating some of the traits I've mentioned here, though nothing so extreme as you might see on some reality show. And the more I observe the gray-haired grandma's at the gym with their butterfly tattoos, I wonder why people think I'm strange.

I guess it's a matter of what we see reflected back at us in popular culture. The coolest geeks on television right now are probably on "Chuck" and "The Big Bang Theory" and they all share a certain social awkwardness that doesn't meet the standard definition of "cool."

It's scary what passes for cool these days isn't it?

My neighbors might think my interests are a tad odd, but you know what? I think their interests are a bit strange too. I mean no disrespect to anyone who finds their version of the fountain of youth through tattoos, faux-hawks, surgery and designer jeans, but I think I'll stick to my brand of childishness even should it slide into the excess of learning Klingon or quoting "Star Wars."

It's a little less permanent than some of the other options too.

The Whole Gang

It's only taken a month, but we finally got a photo of (almost) the entire civic-friche team. If you want to read our individual bios, they can be found on the official civic-friche website. This photos was taken at Le Channel in Calais.


Back row, from left: Devon Stonebrook, Ivan Adelson, Tyler Willis, Brittany Roy, Mo Harmon, Matt Nickel, Lauren Bebry, Catherine Baldwin, Jordan Buckner, Steven Christensen (instructor).
Middle row: Lauren Vasey, Talia Pinto-Handler, Kayla Lim, Noureen Lakhani, Lena Pasqualini (secrétaire générale for Le Channel), Anya Sirota (instructor).
Front row: Nathan Doud (me!), Erika Lindsay, Bruce Findling, Jacqueline Kow.
Not pictured: Jean Louis Farges (instructor), Marie Combes (photographer extraordinaire), Patrick Renaud (photographer extraordinaire).


This group can't stay still for more than 30 seconds. It's always, "So what's next?" and everyone is off in search of the next adventure or great photo opportunity.