Pass the open source please and a torrent of sociability
I’ve come across a number of cool sites and projects over the last week, as well as read a number of really thought provoking articles so I figured that I would filter for the best (in my mind) and put them up here.
1. Hexagon.cc
A torrent search engine / tracker site that has a definite social media feel and focus – which is pretty trendy at the moment.
Apparently the site is foundered by, amongst others, one of the admins of the large torrent search engine IsoHunt. Hexagon.cc looks really interesting as it will allow people to start up their own social-sharing networks for torrents and videos. The site is really cleanly designed and seems to be focusing on the convenient sharing of torrent information for legitimate material. Looks really promising!
2. OS FLV (and FlowPlayer)
The open source, embeddable FLV player.
This player is great for embedding your own video content on your site or blog, without hosting your video material on a third-party website such as YouTube or Vimeo. Whilst I have no problem with either of those services (I use both quite regularly) sometimes it is nice to have your video hosted locally, and have more control over how it is played back (you can have videos start automatically, loop and even customise the ’static image’).
Another player that looks great (maybe even better) is FlowPlayer, but I’ve not played around with it too much yet.
http://www.osflv.com
http://www.flowplayer.org
3. Zero-S Electric Motorcycle
Fully-electric street legal motorcycle.
Fairly-decent max speed (90kph) and mid-range ‘mileage’ (~80km) makes this look like a really promising green motorcycle solution. At that range and top speed it would be a pretty decent bike for intra-city riding, not so good for inter-city, given that most highways in Australia have a limit of about 100-110kph). Give it a few years and I imagine we’ll see bikes with highway compatible top speeds and a longer range. It takes about 4 hours to recharge – what I would like to see is ‘battery exchange programs’ at fuel stations for electric bikes.
http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/zero-s-specs.php
4. Stargate Worlds
Being a big Stargate fan I was stoked to find out recently that their was an MMORPG being made for the Stargate universe! It looks as though it is in beta too, with a tabled release of 2009. I might even consider getting a Windows box up and running to play this game, reviews pending.
http://www.stargateworlds.com/
Aaand some interesting articles (ripped from Twitter)
- Not every cloud has a silver lining: the real attraction behind cloud computing (@doctorow in The Guardian) http://bit.ly/19qSGI
- RT @slashdot: MPAA Pushes Once Again To Close the Analog Hole http://bit.ly/3wTZ6O
Chris is a shining example of how, in a world where abortion is not as easily obtained as a leg of fried chicken, an ounce of prevention can be worth more than its weight in gold. He is currently completing a PhD in Bioinformatics which he hopes may one day help him get out of a speeding ticket.