I don’t think I’ve seen anything geekier than this…..I absolutely love it. A Star Trek fan who’s — obviously — very good with wiring, electronics and programming has created this LCARS type controller to control just about everything in his house. Have a peek at the video below to get a better idea at what this guy has accomplished. Absolutely wonderful .

His webpage is in German, but has a very good collage of pics about the project. Well worth the trip.

This week marks N.E.R.D.logger’s 2nd birthday — and we couldn’t be happier about that. It has been a great year for N.E.R.D. with lots of encouraging feedback. We launched on the 24th May 2007 and have seen the site grow, and grow, and grow… Not only in terms of features but members/subscribers aswell. A big thank you to all the community. Your support is really appreciated.

A lot of people seem to be running into weird network problems with Vista (MS’s latest abortion). The symptoms might include:

- Windows messenger issues (disconnects, slowness)
- Large network file copies get interrupted or are slowwwww
- Network file transfers that seem to hang for no reason
- Network ghosts turning on/off the network subsystem
- Routers having issues that lead to router reboot
- Outlook having synchronization issues

A possible solution is turning off auto-tuning. You see Vista being Vista, wants to always be in control, even when it gets on the network with others. MS has built a new feature into it’s network stack that allows Vista to auto-tune the size of the send/receive windows…..why would you want to do this by default when half the worlds firewalls discard non-standard packet sizes is a mystery (apparently only known to MS ppl). So guess what happens when the firewall downstream of you decides that your packets are “non-standard”……it drops them, along with your connection. So how do you fix this, simple, you do what MS should have done before they shipped you the abortion called Vista, you disable it. Here is how:

1) Get a command prompt in administrator mode. To do this go to Start/All Programs/Accessories and RIGHT CLICK on command prompt’s icon and choose “Run as Administrator”. On the next prompt press “Continue”.
2) Make sure the Title of the newly opened command prompt window says “Administrator: Command Prompt”, if not go back to 1).
3) Now type the following into the command prompt window. This will disable autotuning.
netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled
4) You should get a OK. in the command prompt window. REBOOT NOW.
5) If you need to turn it back on (why?) do the 1) and 2) and issue the following command
netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal
To check the status of this dumb setting (before or after you change it) do 1) and 2) and type the following command
netsh int tcp show global
Of course you could always reboot, format and install Linux and save your sanity and time

I have to admit, once I finished reading the article I just about fell of my chair laughing. Not at the idea/concept, but at the shear ingenuity/nerd factor of this project. You see the N.E.R.D.s down at Purdue University are planning to literally build the largest Big Ten supercomputer that is not part of a national center….not in a year, not in a month, but in a DAY. Yep, you read right, 200 employees will be hacking and slashing this behemoth together in 24 hours. Guys and Gals, we salute you. You are true N.E.R.D.s……Good luck

Great tutorial video by Johnny Lee from Carnegie Mellon University showing how using an IR LED array and some reflective tape, you can track fingers in thin air using the Wii Remote. Great alternative to those FTIR (Frustrated Total Internal Reflection) tables.

Stumbled across this earlier today and did not get a chance to make a note of it. From the overview portion of the page:

“The Eyebeam OpenLab is a home for artists, engineers and hackers pioneering open source creativity. The first initiative of its kind, the lab is focused entirely on incubating experimental technologies and media that directly enrich the public domain.”

Sounds like my kinda place. Now you might be asking why it’s mentioned here…..well it’s N.E.R.D. content and since I’m working with a group of people at my Uni on a very similar Lab, atleast in concept, I thought it deserved a mention.

Their Facilities section describes the environment as:

“The OpenLab at Eyebeam includes a mezzanine with an extended whiteboard and projector for informal meetings; a Lab space for electronics production, software and hardware hacking and rapid prototyping with technologies such as a laser cutter and 3D printer; the Prototyping Gallery, a semi-public space adjacent to the lab allowing for ad-hoc installations and project demos where the public can view the latest developments and artists and engineers can receive feedback on prototypes; and raw studio space where artists in residence create projects and access all of the opportunities and expertise within the OpenLab, Production and Education Studios.”

Sounds like a very cool place to Hack/Create/Invent. BTW, some of their earlier projects include — for those who remember — Wifi Liberator and Laser Tag/Mobile Broadcast Unit.

Yeah, you heard right, I’m gonna show you how the mouse pointer on your computer really works. To do this we have to zoom in a portion of the screen. When you move to the next page, move the mouse to the centre of your screen and have a look. Also try clicking your mouse button. Now you know the secret…You are a true NERD