Canvas tag used to create games

Firefox 1.5’s canvas tag used to create games. A first-player shooter type with textures. Impressive. (You need Firefox 1.5 to view this). Comments sLaSh 4 Dec 2005 2:28 pm: http://www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Audio-Video/Science/Physics/Fits-of-Reflection-and-Transmission/15197

Dr DivX is now open source

Dr DivX is now open source. You may prefer it to Virtual Dub.

How to survive worst case scenarios

How to survive worst case scenarios, like a riot, plane crash or car without brakes. Also includes an alien abduction scenario. Comments Rajiv 5 Dec 2005 7:50 pm: Are you still at BCG? S Anand 5 Dec 2005 9:08 pm: Infosys Consulting right now.

Who is afraid of Google

Who’s afraid of Google? Everyone

HTML keyboard shortcuts

HTML keyboard shortcuts using the “accesskey” attribute.

Blind Search Engine Test

The Blind Search Engine Test. My vote turned out to be for Google.

Capturing movies on the fly

Capturing movies on the fly. Comments Sumit Dhar 30 Nov 2005 1:28 am: SnapZ is a Mac only application? For Windows, I use VirtualDub. Not very intuitive or easy to use, but does the job. S Anand 30 Nov 2005 11:07 am: So do I! It’s pretty effective. I do my video compression on VirtualDub as well.

Coloured soap bubbles

Coloured soap bubbles.

IMDb Torrent linker

IMDb Torrent linker – a GreaseMonkey script that shows torrents available when you browse the IMDb.

Picking a computer language

Paul Graham on picking a computer language. Excellent read.

Rounded corners

Why we love rounded corners.

Presentation tips

Discussion on 43 Folders on presentation tips. Comments Sathya 28 Nov 2005 7:02 am: Anand … can you RSS-enable your website ? S Anand 29 Nov 2005 7:52 pm: It alread is. The XML link is on the rop right, in the bookmarks.

Interesting videos

Some interesting ads on Google video: FotoPrix: perfect pictures for an imperfect world. Nike ad in Lisbon. Honda car assembly (a classic). Google Video also has Google Current, which is a newsreel about Google’s top searches. But the find was a 5-hour Google factory tour. Comments ritzkini 23 Nov 2005 9:07 am: Thanks for your interest in Google Video.Currently, the playback feature of Google Video isn’t available in your country.We hope to make this feature available more widely in the future, and we really appreciate your patience. S Anand 23 Nov 2005 7:25 pm: That is truly a pity. Wonder if any of the proxys will take care of it…

Excel - Avoid manual labour

Rule #3: Avoid manual labour. Use Excel to automate the task. I use Excel’s formulas to speed up repetitous tasks. These techniques are powerful, meaning, you can do a lot with a little, but can have unforeseen consequences. Excel can find and replace formulas. If you had hardcoded formulas and wanted to change =B1*3.14 to =B1*3.1416 across all rows, just find “*3.14” and replace it with “*3.1416”. Find and replace works in formulas. This is very powerful. You can use it to change the source (e.g. change the source from column B to C by finding “=B” and replacing with “=C”) or even the formula (find and replace “SUM(” with “SUBTOTAL(9,”). ...

Google may acquire Riya

Google may acquire Riya. Riya can recognise faces and lettering in your pictures. Comments Sai 8 Dec 2005 11:50 pm: Hi, do post the rest of the tips for excel when you get the time. Good Stuff.

MIT OpenCourseWare

MIT OpenCourseWare on Google Base.

How to read when time is short

How to read when time is short. Read the “How To Find The Essential 20%” section carefully. Another interesting post from Bert on How to Learn More With No Extra Effort uses the principle in the post below to suggest we take a lot of breaks while learning. i cdnuolt blveiee taht i cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht i was rdanieg. the phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mind is amazanig. aoccdrnig to a rscheearch taem at cmabrigde uinervtisy, it deosnt mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. the rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. amazanig huh? yaeh and yuo awlyas thohgut slpeling was ipmorantt. ...

Amazon Mechanical Turk

The ultimate irony. Amazon has written an API that invokes humans. Amazon Mechanical Turk provides a web services API for computers to integrate Artificial Artificial Intelligence directly into their processing by making requests of humans. Developers use the Amazon Mechanical Turk web services API to submit tasks to the Amazon Mechanical Turk web site, approve completed tasks, and incorporate the answers into their software applications. To the application, the transaction looks very much like any remote procedure call - the application sends the request, and the service returns the results. In reality, a network of humans fuels this Artificial Artificial Intelligence by coming to the web site, searching for and completing tasks, and receiving payment for their work. ...

Excel - Never type in data

Rule #2: Never type in data in Excel. You rarely spend time creating voluminous data. Usually, you’re just processing it (copying, transforming, whatever). Sometimes data is on a web page – typically tables. To copy such data, open the page in Internet Explorer and paste it in Excel. You won’t like the formatting. So copy the cells you just pasted, go to a different sheet, and Edit-Paste Special just the values (Alt-E-S-V-Enter). ...

What economists can learn from currency traders

What economists can learn from currency traders.