the brook

If you own a Mac, you have got to try this out: a software called Nocturne by the same people who made QuickSilver. The software does a very simple thing - inverts your entire screen, giving the appearance of night vision. Looks great. Not only that, it is actually effective when using the computer in a dark room or at night! Not very good for surfing the web, though, since all photos are inverted as well.

Night vision screenshot (click to enlarge):

(I had to take a snap since taking a screenshot only shows the original colours, I think Nocturne is only inverting the final display rather than the underlying buffer from which the screenshot is taken)

Normal screen (for reference):

By the way, Mac OS X has a built in standard way of doing this - hit Ctrl+Option+Cmd+8. But Nocturne allows a number of options that make the effect more pleasing, like turning the screen monochrome, disabling shadows and applying color corrections.

Enjoy!

You have to get out of Singapore to know the real meaning of spring.

(Click to go to the photoset)

So, Dell is finally going to be offering computers with Ubuntu Linux preinstalled, and there are rumours that HP, Lenovo, Toshiba et. al. will follow suit. And of course, the Linux world is in celebration and is saying, “The Linux Desktop is for real. Linux has proven that it can compete in the same league with Mac OS and Windows.” (via)

I don’t think that statement really reflects the ground truth. In one sense, the Linux desktop was “ready” to compete with Windows etc. quite a while ago (I’ve been using Linux on my main system for at least four years now). It’s much easier to get up to speed on Linux now than a decade ago, and the average person (with zero Linux experience) can manage to install and even use it for most tasks if they break their heads on it for a while. On the other hand, Linux still isn’t yet ready to be distributed to the masses, or “grandma-ready” as people like to call it. Extremetech reviewed Feisty Fawn and found that a lot of things like DVD playback etc. were still lacking. I’m willing to bet that in the next couple of years grandparents and housewives are far from likely to be the main customers of Dell’s Linux offerings.

What has actually happened, is that Linux geeks have become a market force to reckon with. There are far more casual hackers, computer science graduates, OS adventure-seekers and serious Linux workers in the world today than a few years ago. Dell has realized (and others soon will) that it’s a very competitive market these days and selling hardware to Linux geeks can actually make a difference to the bottom line - profit. And that’s why they’re taking the Linux plunge. Because one of the most popular questions on laptop and Linux forums is “which hardware does Linux run best on?” Not because Linux has crossed some threshold at this point of time that makes it suitable for the masses.

This is good news, of course. Once someone as big as Dell realizes this, it will (hopefully) hit hardware manufacturers and software developers sooner and make one of the biggest headaches of Linux disappear - lack of hardware (driver) and software support from companies.

Will Linux ever truly be ready for the masses - and become something of an OS X? Eventually, yes. Someone will realize that it’s actually quite simple to have Linux running all the users want to run (as long as you ignore the everything-must-be-free-as-in-speech mantra), and then actually do it, and then actually market it to the masses as such. Maybe it’ll be Canonical with Ubuntu, maybe it’ll be Linspire, maybe Xandros or maybe Novell. I think it will still take a few years before Linux becomes mainstream though.

This is a non-fiction book on neuroscience. I nearly got scared too, but on the back cover was a recommendation from The Economist and so I decided to pick it up and give it a try. Turns out to be a wonderfully written, eminently layman-readable and a very interesting book.

The author examines a number of brain disorders in order to illustrate how the human brain operates and how complex and far-reaching the workings of this wonderful machine are. He starts off by examining the issue of “phantom limbs” - a condition whereby someone with a limb amputated can still vividly feel its presence. He moves on to discuss matters such as visual perception, evolution, consciousness and identity.

The best part about the book is that it discusses issues that are extremely complex, but very simply illustrated - the only prerequisite being (I felt) a sense of wonder. Dr. Ramachandran’s writing is anecdotal and often humourous, and illuminates the methods of brain science very well. One of the main themes of the book is that the brain is divided into a number of modules which can function independently of each other; thus leading to the concept of many “phantoms” or “zombies” in the brain, even though for most people their identity seamlessly coalesces into one entity. For example, he writes about experiments that decisively show that the part of the brain which judges the size of a coffee cup is different from the one that instructs your fingers to move apart to grasp the cup, and it is yet another part which allows you to actually perceive that the coffee cup is moving toward your lips. This seems quite mundane until you actually read about someone who can pick up the coffee cup effortlessly, but at the same time claims that she cannot really identify the object in question as a coffee cup. It’s amazing to read how many processes come together in order for us to experience life as we know it.

The book also links social behaviours and evolution to the brain. Of course, nobody will be surprised to know that mental ability and even hand-eye coordination may be a function of how your brain is wired up; but even social traits like being talkitive and egoistic are controlled to some extent by brain wiring.

Overall a lovely read for anyone - even if you’re not interested in the workings of the brain or in science generally, this book will probably generate some interest in you.

Rating: 4 / 5