Tag Archives: technology

How to write a computer book

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I’ve designed an outline, which can be used as a table of contents, for a computer book about anything. In this case, about foo bar.

Preface
Forward
Introduction
Overview
What is foo bar?
Before you start
A brief history of foo bar
A longer history of foo bar
Why you want to use foo bar
Why you might not want to use foo bar
Alternatives to foo bar
Obtaining foo bar
Installing foo bar
Getting help on foo bar
Getting help on reading this book about foo bar
Alliterative methods of installing foo bar
Installing foo bar from source code
Installing foo bar from alternate binaries
Installing foo bar on dead badger
Why we wrote this book about foo bar
About the authors
About the reviewers
About the publishers
About the concept of “about”
How to download the code for foo bar
Typographical conventions used in this book
How to read this book in black and white
The plan of the book
What each chapter will tell you
How the chapters in this book are organized
A history of prior revisions and printings of this book
A word about this book’s font
foo bar basics
Advanced foo bar
Futher Reading about foo bar
Index

How to share files with other people easily

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Dropbox is still the best way for most users to store their files on multiple computers and in “the cloud” in part because it is system agnostic and not linked to a corporate entity that has other plans for you. And, using Dropbox you can share files pretty easily as well. However, there is another way to share files that is amazingly cool that I just found out about. It’s called “Drop Canvas.” With Drop Canvas you drag and drop files onto a “canvas” (it’s a web page) and then send the canvas to someone.

I’ve implemented a test already. A couple of other people and I are planning to make something for someone that involves images. So, I threw a bunch of possible images to use on a drop canvas and sent it around. Others can add additional images. I’m pretty sure others (to whom you’ve sent it) can delete files off the canvass (well, at least, I’ve just deleted a file off a canvass I sent to myself). So this could be an interesting collaborative tool.

Drop Canvas in action (screenshot)

Hat tip Yaara Lancet who also suggests other file sharing options.

Should you convert your dead cat into a helicopter?

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Orville the cat was named after Orville Wright, and when he died, Bart Jansen, the cant’s “owner” taxidermied him and, in collaboration with Radio Controlled Flying Objects expert Arjen Beltman, they converted Orville the cat into a working helicopter.

From the daily mail:

Jansen said the Orvillecopter is ‘half cat, half machine’, and part of a visual art project to pay tribute to his cat Orville.

Jansen, part of the art cooperative Generaal Pardon, said: ‘After a period of mourning he received his propellers posthumously.’

Click through to see more photos, and here’s the video:

Are these people true cat lovers, or are they monsters? Modern technology does certainly bring up novel ethical concerns for cats …