Processing.

Computer animations and graphics are what keeps kids and dults alike glued to the computer screen. No no, I’m not wrinting about a new animation movie. This one is for all those who are interested in CREATING anmations, applications, and games. Interested? Read on.

Processing is more like a customized IDE (Integrated Development Environment) rather than a new programming language. It is built over java and is very easy to learn. If you know basic C or C++, you are good to go! But it shouldn’t be too tough for absolute beginners. What scares most of the students away from programming is that it is fantastically boring, and they can’t really do anything with what they have learned until they learn all those ‘advanced’ stuff. Now processing is not like that! You can create cute interactive applets from your very beginning. No, processing is not some kind of stupid program that lets you create virtual puppets. You will have to actually code to do things. Let me straighten things up : Writing graphical programs is no easy task. Sometimes programmers will have to spend the first two days just laying the base for all those grpahical stuff. I’m not trying to confuse you but let us say that processing makes writing graphical applications way easier. The IDE converts all your code into pure java when you hit the ‘run’ button. got my point? Processing is actually java.
Go see for yourself. They have really good demonstrations at the ‘exhibition’ section.

http://www.processing.org

Just Google it!!

Gooooooogle – a long stretch of O’s, and tiny little page numbers under them – if you see this, you are probably staring at one of those typical, almost-accurate, ‘google’ search results. For almost a decade now, this long stretch of O’s with a ‘G’ at one end and a ‘gle’ at the other end has dominated the cyber world. And the good thing is, it’s continuing to do so. Google was co-founded by Larry page and Sergey brin as a research project at Stanford university, 1996. Today it is a corporate giant, with an annual revenue of 13,174,044  US $ (as of Dec, 2008).

How many of you use google? Many. How many of you use other services offered by google? Many more! Orkut, Gmail, Youtube, Gtalk,Blogger, Picasa – seems like Google owns a pretty large fairyland of its own in the cyber world! These are services we use most often. But there’s this other side of google that an average user doesn’t often come across, or to be more precise, is not aware of.

How many of you use google reader? Not many. As google puts it, “Google Reader helps you find and keep track of interesting stuff on the web. You can subscribe to your favorite websites, and keep up with what’s popular.New content comes to your Google Reader when it’s posted, so you don’t need to visit individual sites.” A pretty useful tool for someone who visits certain sites regularly. www.google.com/reader

Now Google Adsense is an advertising program which lets you place google ads in your blog/website and google pays you a certain amount for a certain number of mouse clicks on that ad! Now what’s a blog? A blog is something like an online diary, a storybook, a local newspaper – write whatever you want, let the world know! Creating a blog is easy, fun and free. Www.blogger.com.
For the official google blog -http://googleblog.blogspot.com/

They even give us a complete replica of Microsoft office!(well, kind of). Google Docs allows you to create, upload, and share documents online. Connect to the net, do your work, save-you can access your documents from any part of the globe – and no more pirated softwares to do your work.! Go to docs.google.com/

Google is definitely the king among search engines – and cyber space. From ‘Google earth’ which shows you the entire world from a top-down view to the yet to be released ‘Chrome’ operating sysem which promises to give you a never-before experience, google has always been innovative and ahead of all others. This was just the tip of the iceberg. Google provides even more services like a web page translator (to view webpages written in languages other than english), a super fast web browser (’chome’), a 3-d modelling tool (http://sketchup.google.com/) and many more, I cannot list everything here. The best thing about google is that, they give you all this for free! (at least as far as I know)

Need to know more/need clarifications about anything discussed above? Google it! Now don’t be lazy, searching for something in google is easier than you think! Oh and by the way, typing in “google” in the search box will give you the entire list of google services – try it, it’s huge! Happy googling!

The world of computer animation

It is computer animation that is responsible for the adorable, cute and funny cartoon characters that one can see in the movies or on the TV. There was a time when these complicated characters were drawn manually, but these days, according to the latest trend professionals make use of a computer in doing so. Computer animation involves the use of both 2D (two-dimensional) as well as 3D (three-dimensional) graphics. This digital technology has reinstated all the customary techniques such as stop motion animation. This could be made possible because of 3D models and frame wise animation of 2D images.

A number of animated movies have been completed, covering animal characters such as “Finding Nemo”, certain fantasy characters such as “Monsters Inc.” and “Shrek” and even the human beings, which are basically still cartoons such as “Final Fantasy: The spirits within”. Next to the United States, another country that has an enormous enthrallment for animation is the highly-developed Japan. They refer to their animation as “Anime” that are usually under the influence of Japanese manga.

With the alteration in trends, the animation is now also being used in supporting explanations for making the process of learning easier. There are countless animation schools, which train the students for an outstanding career in crafting special effects, cartoons, games and much more.

Samsung N140 – Netbook Review

Are you looking for a new laptop and want something ultra-portable? You should consider getting a netbook. With enough research into new models that are available there is no need to compromise on your eyesight, with tiny keyboards, and battery life. I have done the research, and will continue an on going series on the issue.

Samsung have just released a successor to their NC10. The N140 has the same specs as the NC10, as it was one of the brand’s most popular netbooks, with 1.6GHz processors, 1 GB of RAM and a 160 GB hard drive.

Currently selling at around £300 it comes with XP Home edition, but if you were to wait Samsung have promised Windows 7 versions. This would be a good thing to do, but either way these are meant to be good. Thankfully Vista does not fit on netbooks, which means that either its better successor or predecessor will be on it.

Choosing a Mobile Internet Data Plan

Now that you know about the different types of data plans, its essential to select the one that most suits your needs.
You will need to analyse the purpose of using the mobile internet. Also list other sources where you may get access to internet like may be at the library, or at home, or at the mall etc. You also need to define why it is essential for you to access the internet, Why is it so important? What are the most important services to you on the internet that you use that absolutely need you to always stay connected?
Once you have identified these you will be able to clarify you usage as ether Novice, Explorer or Addicted.
If you’re a novice and just starting to discover the internet because you’ve got a high end phone you may go for the pay for use package but keep a watch on your usage as you may soon move up to being and explorer and might even get addicted in which case you need to upgrade your data package quickly to prevent it from burning a hole in your wallet.
If you’re an explorer and like to try new services then it essential you select a plan that gives you a decent amount of free allowance, you may also go for the unlimited plan if there isn’t a decent data plan available with much free usage.
If you’re addicted you have no choice but to select an unlimited data plan else you will be bankrupted by your operator. Don’t say that you were not warned about this!

Mobile Internet Data Plan

Do you surf the internet?
Well if you are reading this you most certainly do.
Have you considered how useful it could be to have access to internet at any time, even when you are out and about, so you can easily look up any information without having to wait till you get back to your PC. Well you phone probably has a built in browser and you can use it to access the internet when you are away from the PC.
To use the internet you will need a data allowance on your mobile tariff. Most casual user data tariffs are extremely expensive so its worth the time and effort to contact your operator to check about a suitable data plan depending on your needs and your budget.
Depending on your operator the data plan may be either just pay for what you use with no additional monthly charges or a fixed charge with a fixed allowance plan and a charge if you go over the allowance or a unlimited allowance plan with a fair use policy to avoid abuse of the service for the operator.
Depending on your expected usage you may select the most suitable plan and get ready to surf the internet on the move.