Meebo releases its new Firefox extension

Webware.com has a good writeup about the new Firefox extension for meebo.com, my favorite web-based IM client.

Meebo released its Firefox extension earlier this morning. It lets you chat with people on six different popular chat clients, or sign in to all at once with your Meebo ID using a sidebar in your browser. The 64k extension is aimed at solving the problem of providing active notifications for friends and conversation activity--one of the most widely requested features from Meebo users, and the hardest to implement without something that has deeper access to your browser. If you've ever used Meebo before and have been annoyed that you can't tell a whole lot about what's going on when it's not your main tab or when minimized, this extension solves that with colored taskbar pop-ups. And as an added bonus for the lazy, there's an option to automatically sign into the service every time you start your browser.

Go to webware.com for the full writeup on Meebo's new extension.

Micro Camera shows Internal Workings of Combustion Engine

doorman77 posted a video on LiveLeak showing the internal workings of a fourstroke combustion engine. The 1000 fps video from the high-pressure, heat-resistant camera shows the simple action of the engine in motion.


[Via Gizmodo.com, hosted on LiveLeak]

Live Search for the Microchip Community

Having trouble searching the Microchip web forum? I created a Google search a while back but this Live Search Macro works much better. You can even add the search provider to Firefox or Internet Explorer.

UC Berkeley to post full lectures on YouTube

"UC Berkeley on YouTube will provide a public window into university life, academics, events and athletics, which will build on our rich tradition of open educational content for the larger community," said Christina Maslach, UC Berkeley's vice provost for undergraduate education in a statement.

Hop over to http://youtube.com/ucberkeley to start watching the over 300 hours of course lectures scheduled to be added.



[Source: webware.com]

Halo 3 themed Tafiti search

Check out the Halo 3 skinned version of ‘Tafiti’, which is an experimental interface built with Silverlight on top of Live Search.
[Source: Major Nelson]

From the Tafiti FAQ:

What is Tafiti?
Tafiti, which means "do research" in Swahili, is an experimental search front-end from Microsoft, designed to help people use the Web for research projects that span multiple search queries and sessions by helping visualize, store, and share research results. Tafiti uses both Microsoft Silverlight and Live Search to explore the intersection of richer experiences on the Web and the increasing specialization of search.

Here's a quick video demo that I found on Youtube.

[video source: http://technomarketer.typepad.com/]

mTouch™ Solution and Design Center for Touch Sensing Applications

I just saw this press release and thought it was interesting. I haven't looked at the app note or source code yet, but I think I will soon.

From the press release:

Touch sensing is fast becoming an alternative to traditional push-button user interfaces, because it requires no mechanical movement, and enables a completely sealed and modern-looking design. Expanding beyond the consumer market, touch sensing is beginning to take hold in medical, industrial and automotive applications for reasons such as aesthetics, maintenance,cost and cleanliness. Microchip enables engineers to add this leading-edge user interface to their designs, without the cost of fee-based licensing and royalty agreements. The Company’s full source-code solution further enables design engineers to integrate touch sensing functionality with their existing application code in a single microcontroller, thus reducing the total system cost associated with current solutions.

Available now, via a free download from Microchip’s Web site at www.microchip.com/mtouch, the Touch Sensing Software Development Kit comes complete with:

• Kit user’s manual with Quick-Start Guide for building a touch sensing application
• Application Notes covering hardware and software design practices, with example implementations for touch sensing solutions, including:

1. Introduction, AN1101
2. Layout & Physical Guidelines, AN1102
3. Software, AN1103
4. Multi-Button Systems, AN1104

• Graphical User Interface software tools for analysis of designs, utilizing Microchip’s PICkit™ Serial Analyzer Development Tool
• Source Code for a variety of sensing routines
• MPLAB® Integrated Development Environment, and the user’s manual
• 30-day license for HI-TECH’s PICC-Lite C compiler, and the user’s manual
• Frequently asked questions