Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on May 16, 2008 by CyberNet.

Windows; Mac
Last week we wrote about some terrific rulers for both Windows and Macs, but it looks like we missed a top-notch alternative. Nate pointed out in the comments that a free app called Rulers is his favorite option for Macs, but it turns out that there is also a Windows variant that works exactly the same way. Now how sweet is that?

Rulers, despite the name, does a lot more than just measure stuff. Checkout the video below for the features in action, but here’s a list of what it can do:

• Unlimited rulers creation
• Multiple units of measurement support
• Multi monitor support
• Take a screenshot of selected area or whole screen
• Magnifier
• Color picker (RGB and Hex)

The screenshot tool is rather interesting in how it works. You basically create a bunch of measurement points on the screen, and it will let you take a screenshot of each area where your points intersect. You kind of have to see how it works in the video to really understand it.

Overall this is definitely one of the more clever free applications that I have seen because of how it bundles so many nice features into one package.

Get Rulers for Windows or Mac
Thanks Nate!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

Related Posts:

PicPick – Free Portable Screenshot AppCyberNotes: Free Color PickersCyberNotes: How to Measure Items on Your ScreenFoxit 2.3 PDF Reader Includes TabsCyberNotes: Taking Screenshots in Firefox

Sony’s subtitle-showing specs are great — if you wear contacts and hate 3-D. Stills captured from BBC video

Sony has an experimental pair of spectacles that will allow cinemagoers to see on-screen subtitles, even when none are being projected. The specs are for use primarily by the deaf and hard-of-hearing, and use LEDs to provide a heads-up display, superimposed over the movie. The words appear to the eye to be the same distance away as the movie screen, just like any other HUD.

The advantages are many. Not only can the hearing-impaired get subs on every movie, these specs could also be deployed to show different foreign-language subtitles to different viewers.

But the subtitles, as you can see in the BBCs video news spot, move. Unlike regular subtitles which always sit at the bottom of the screen, these follow the movement of the head. Get used to it though, and this could become a feature, eliminating the need to keep glancing down.

Of more concern is the never-ending pile of glasses we now need to watch a movie. If you have four eyes like me, 3-D movies already are out. Add these on top and you’ll have an unmanageable stack of lenses balanced on your nose.

Cinema subtitle glasses give promise to deaf film fans [The Beeb]

See Also:

• Is Text Messaging Making Subtitles Popular?
• Specs with Subtitles for the Deaf or the Foreign

For anyone who’s logged time city bus surfing, you know there’s a heckuva lot of power in those screechy stops and starts. So, it stands to reason there’d be a way to harness that kinetic energy and shuffle it right back to the auto, itself. Well, that’s exactly what the Flybus consortium aims to do with a prototype that uses a Ricardo Kinergy flywheel to store energy created from braking, and redistribute it via a continuously variable transmission. The hybrid setup is purportedly much cheaper to produce than current, pricier EV rigs, and would also go a long way towards reducing fuel costs for commercial vehicles. Gearheads eager for a peek at the group’s design can get a look-see when it’s shown off this month at the Low Carbon Vehicle event in the UK. For everyone else, there are the source links below.

Flybus consortium puts the brakes on energy waste, throws it back to the asphalt originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Sep 2011 06:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Inhabitat, 4-traders  | Email this | Comments

The idea is cute, and the execution flawless in Kirsty’s Camera Desk Lamp. Photo Kooyootoo/Flickr

What would make the perfect work lamp? A firm, steady base which can be adjusted to any height, and any surface? A multiply adjustable light which can be locked into any position? A big, bright lens which can throw the light wide or narrow?

The answer to all of these is “yes,” and all of them are a available if you put a light inside camera on a tripod.

This is just what Kirsty of Kootooyou did, ending up with this amazing lamp fashioned from a tripod, an old Cosina 35mm film SLR and a light bulb. Kirsty isn’t letting on about the details of the design — she’s readying the plans for sale next week — but as there is no visible cable, and the light is nice and warm, I’m guessing that there’s an old-fashioned, tungsten-bulb flashlight tucked inside the camera.

It seems a little mean to call something so handsome (and clever) a novelty, so we’ll just call it what it is: a fantastic maker project. Get down to your local Goodwill, charity shop or op shop (depending on where you are in the world) and grab the ingredients now.

Camera – light – action… [Kootooyou via Make]

See Also:

• DIY Ring Flash Adapter Uses 150 Optic Fibers, Resembles Alien …
• Four Camera Hacks You Can Do Today
• Security Camera Hack Conceals Heists Behind Dummy Video …
• Get Goggle-Eyed with Fisheye Webcam Hack

This article was written on September 18, 2007 by CyberNet.

When Flock 0.9 launched it was a pretty big overhaul, and now their next big milestone is Flock 1.0 which currently has a vague release date of Fall 2007. Honestly this is the dream browser for any heavy social network user out there, and hopefully they’ll pursue more of the less tech savvy people who use MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube because I can guarantee that they would absolutely love it.

I still believe that the best feature is the built-in feed reader, and after installing a nightly build of Flock 1.0 I had noticed that it is getting a pretty slick overhaul. As you can see in the screenshot above there is a lot of eye candy going on there, and the number of unread feed items are always prominently displayed in blue boxes next to the feed’s name. The only downside I see to such a design is that it doesn’t make it very easy for heavy reading since each line in the sidebar is a bit oversized, meaning you’ll probably only get to see a dozen or two feeds in the sidebar at a time.

The new feed reader is only one area that has been revamped, and here are some other things that will be coming in Flock 1.0:

• Redesigned MyWorld with a much nicer layout
• Notifier for when your friends have posted new content
• Easily drag and drop items onto friends, blogs or email for effortless sharing, publishing and communicating.
• Filmstrip view of your favorite photo and video streams from: YouTube, Flickr, Photobucket, Piczo, Truveo and Facebook
• Flock helps you to discover photos, videos, feeds from your friends and favorite sources

Unfortunately all of these features do seem to come at a price, and you’ll be "making the payments" with your computer’s memory. Having tested out the nightly build of Flock 1.0 left me in dismay at how much RAM it could actually eat up. At startup the browser choked down 50MB of memory, and after just three tabs that had risen to over 75MB! Now I’ve had similar problems with Firefox, but Firefox consistently uses 30MB less memory than Flock…so I guess you now know what the real cost of Flock’s added features. Maybe they’ll throw a curve ball and have some helpful optimizations by the time Flock 1.0 makes its way out the door?

Download Flock 0.9 (latest stable release)
Download Flock 1.0 Preview (nightly build, could be highly unstable)
Source: Flock Blog

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

Related Posts:

Will You Download Flock 1.0?Flock Will Begin A New Marketing TacticFlock Will Be Based On Firefox 2Flock 2.0 Based on Firefox 3 – Beta Coming SoonPhotobucket Releases Their Own Flock Browser