Book holiday homes and vacation rentals direct from private villa owners and save money. Worldwide choice of villas, and holiday homes

I have a Macbook Pro with a Windows dual boot. It boots fine into Windows - everything works. But if I try to boot into Mac OS, it never happens. I tried booting from the original CD - and I can see a very, very dark screen with menu choices - but cannot see it well enough to do anything. I tried pressing shift and S and bootup - and both of those options also give me the very dark screen that I cannot read.

If you've decided to buy a new computer, you probably first started doing some research online. But, with all the different manufacturers and choices, there can be literally millions of different choices and configurations, which is all a little overwh...

On adium, when I take a 'Snapshot' for my display picture, there are a choice of effects to use.
Those effects, though, don't appear to be all in photobooth. (e.g. BluePrint, City Lights, Invert etc.)
Does anyone know how I can use these effects in Photobooth, or if it's possible to install new effects?
Thanks a lot.

(btw, i have a macbook laptop, with adium 2.0, if that helps :))

Fans of heavy metal music are gentle, creative people who are at ease with themselves, which makes them very similar to fans of classical music.

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photos from vax choice gathering in middletown, nj on 9/5/08 led by Louise Kuo Habakus. Author: hellokittiemama Keywords: Vaccines Autism Green our Vaccination Choice Mandated Corzine Obama Louise Kuo Habakus A...

Hadoop is a Java-based distributed application and storage framework that's designed to run on thousands of commodity machines. You can think of it as an open source approximation of Google's search infrastructure. Yahoo!, in fact, runs many components of its search and ad products on Hadoop, and it's not too surprising that they are a major contributor to the project.

MapReduce is a method for writing software that can be parallelized across thousands of machines to process enormous amounts of data. For instance, let's say you want to count the number of referrals, by domain, in all the world's Apache server logs. Here's the gist of how you'd do it:

• Get all the world to upload their server logs to your gigantor distributed file system. You might automate and approximate this by having every web administrator add some javascript code to their site that causes their visitor's browsers to ping your own server, resulting in one giant log file of all the world's server logs. Your filesystem of choice is HDFS, the Hadoop Distributed Filesystem, which handles partitioning and replicating this enormous file between all of your cluster nodes.
• Split the world's largest log file into tiny pieces, and have your thousands of cluster machines parse the pieces, looking for referrers. This is the "Map" phase. Each chunk is processed and the referrers found in that chunk are output back to the system, which stores the output keyed by the referrer hostname. The chunk assignments are optimized so that the cluster nodes will process chunks of data that happen to be stored on their local fragment of the distributed file system.
• Finally, all the outputs from the Map phase are collated. This is called the "Reduce" phase. The cluster nodes are assigned a hostname key that was created during the Map phase. All of the outputs for that key are read in by the node and counted. The node then outputs a single result which is the domain name of the referrer, and the total number of referrals that were produced from that referrer. This is done hundreds of thousands of times, once for each referrer domain, and distributed across the thousands of cluster nodes.

At the end of this hypothetical MapReduce job, you're left with a concise list of each domain that's referred traffic, and a count of how many referrals it's given. What's cool about Hadoop and MapReduce is that it makes writing distributed applications like this surprisingly simple. The two functions to perform the example referrer parsing might only be about 20 lines of code. Hadoop takes care of the immense challenges of distributed storage and processing, letting you focus on your specific task.

Since Hadoop is written in Java, the natural way for you to create distributed jobs is to encapsulate your Map and Reduce functions into a java class. If you're not a Java junkie, though, don't worry, there's a job wrapper called HadoopStreaming which can communicate with any program you write with the usual STDIN and STDOUT. This lets you write your distributed job in Perl, Python or even a shell script! You create two programs, one for the mapper and one for the reducer, and HadoopStreaming handles uploading them to all of the cluster nodes and passing data to and from your programs.

If you want to play around with this, I really recommend a couple of howtos written by German hacker Michael G. Noll. He put together a walkthrough for getting Hadoop up and running on Ubuntu, and also a nice introduction to writing a MapReduce program using HadoopStreaming (with Python as an example).

Are any Hackszine readers using Hadoop? Let us know what you're doing and point us to more information in the comments.

Hadoop
Running Hadoop On Ubuntu Linux
Writing An Hadoop MapReduce Program In Python

There was a time when personal computers were the tools of choice for hard-core gamers. But four years ago, on the brink of the release of the PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360, analysts were proclaiming the death of PC gaming.

These new consoles – well, Sony's PS3 and Microsoft's Xbox – were more powerful than the computers at the time, and were integrating with home entertainment systems to provide high definition experiences beyond just gaming. Nintendo, meanwhile, offered a completely new approach to gaming with its Wiimote controllers.

And this year, Electronic Arts decided to kill the PC versions of many of its popular sports titles, including Madden NFL 09, Tiger Woods PGA Tour and NBA Live. LucasArts is releasing The Force Unleashed, its new Star Wars title, on every platform except PC.

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Artist Beverly St. Clair uses quilts to encode genetic information: it's beautiful and comfy! My idea for genome quilts grew from the juxtaposition of two experiences at Wesleyan University in November 2001. First I viewed an exhibit of work by Anni Albers, an artist I have admired for many years. The show included her serigraphs of triangles arranged in a grid. I was struck by their similarity to quilt patterns. The next day I attended a lecture about the Human Genome Project and was impressed by the beautiful shapes of the proteins illustrated and the interesting patterns made by the microarrays. I realized that I could use a simple quilt block to represent each of the four bases in DNA: cytosine, guanine, adenine, and thymine. A square bisected into a light and dark triangle is rotated in four orientations to resemble the letters C, G, A, and T. These blocks are placed in sequences determined by the base sequence, so one can read the genetic code by looking at the quilt. The color and fabric choices influence the overall design. The quilts are visually pleasing, with their strong colors and seemingly traditional design, but they hide and reveal an entirely other construct of information. Genome Quilts (Thanks, Marilyn!)...

Real Simple is taking on readers topsix financial concerns and, with stepbystep plans, cutting them down to size. When Family Caregivers Have to Make Tough Choices ...

If a post on Facebook’s developer blog is accurate, you have less than a week to make your call for no change. That’s right, no change. a group of members have coalesced behind a petition, massing together “Against the ‘New Facebook’” to send Zuckerberg and the rest of them out in Palo Alto a message: “We’re not saying get rid of the new layout, just that they should keep the old one and let us choose which layout we want like skins. Color options would be good too.”

As Compete’s trendspotters made known this past week, many Facebook users have switched over to the “new” Facebook, also called “beta,” only to revert back to the old way. Yet, the company is choosing to switch the network over by default in a matter of days, not months, as I myself envisioned it would. If you’re not fond of the idea of a site-wide shift, join the gentle opposition. Their goal at present is to reach 1 million registrants. As of 7:50 PM ET Saturday, they collectively number 424k-strong. The count has been 11 days in the making. Thousands enter the fold by the hour. All to invoke no change, but rather, a choice. Where do you fall? (Note: We made mention of a parallel movement yesterday, less than half the size, with nearly the same title. It happens.)

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First day of class and we dive right in... general nutrition , factors that influence food choices, taste, flavor, the six basic categories of nutrients, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, minerals, vitamins, etc. etc. etc. ... Read more: Principles...

80smusicvids.com - Like totally bodacious collection of over 1000 music videos from like the raddest decade. Choice.
Bonus, dude! Retro video games like flashacized.

Most of the Rock, Paper, Shotgun guys recently posted their thoughts on the Warhammer Online closed beta; they were descended upon by WAR supporters (some rabid, some a little more even-tempered) for drawing more comparisons between WoW and WAR. After this little display of MMO chest thumping, Alec Meer put up a thoughtful piece on why it is that WoW has become a dirty word, both in and out of the industry, and why people are so quick to leap to vociferous defense of their games:MMOs aren’t like other games. They’re closer to a lifestyle choice, for a lot of people defining how their spare time is spent, how their lives are lived. So if you criticise the game, you criticise the player. God knows there are plenty of non-MMO games that people treat as though they’re bound to their very souls - witness the pile-on for Eurogamer’s MGS4 review, or even the outrage about various RPS writers being down on Stalker: Clear Sky - but it’s even worse with MMOs. Telling a WAR player that his game is similar to WoW is like telling a goth that he’s emo. No-one wants to be told they’re not unique and interesting, to be dismissed as a stereotype they’re not.
WAR is not WoW. But it is a lot like it in a number of crucial ways, and for one essential reason: money. I suspect Mythic and EA aren’t too concerned about the comparison themselves - they might disagree with the sweeping generalisation, but if they didn’t want to be compared they would have gone for an entirely different interface and art approach. Saying WAR is like WoW is not the same as saying it’s a bad or a lazy game, but unfortunately there are guys who do intentionally make the comparison unfavourably, and that’s perhaps understandably made a lot of WAR fans very touchy.
Personally, I'm fascinated by the fan communities generated by MMOs, popular ones and not — not being much of an MMO player, I find 'people watching' to be more entertaining than the game in a lot of cases. I don't have the patience to wade through the original comment thread, but I'm pretty sure I could rattle off the general reaction with little prompting. Meer's thoughts, however, are deserving of a read.
A Dirty Word [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

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Linux.com: "Eight years ago, computer stores stocked a choice of GNU/Linux distributions -- established ones like Caldera, Red Hat, and SUSE, and newcomers like Corel, Progeny, and Stormix. Now, only Ubuntu and openSUSE offer box sets, and both face challenges that other distributions found unsolvable..."

Publication Date: 2008 Sep 5 PMID: 18772431Authors: Pastalkova, E. - Itskov, V. - Amarasingham, A. - Buzsaki, G.Journal: ScienceA long-standing conjecture in neuroscience is that aspects of cognition depend on the brain's ability to self-generate sequential neuronal activity. We found that reliably and continually changing cell assemblies in the rat hippocampus appeared not only during spatial navigation but also in the absence of changing environmental or body-derived inputs. During the delay period of a memory task, each moment in time was characterized by the activity of a particular assembly of neurons. Identical initial conditions triggered a similar assembly sequence, whereas different conditions gave rise to different sequences, thereby predicting behavioral choices, including errors. Such sequences were not formed in control (nonmemory) tasks. We hypothesize that neuronal representations, evolved for encoding distance in spatial navigation, also support episodic recall and the planning of action sequences.post to: CiteULike

Category: Productivity
Released: Sep 03, 2008
Price: Free

Description:
What is it? 2D Sense - previously known as iMatrix - is the universal 2D code processing platform of choice for the iPhone. What are 2D codes? 2D codes are the next generation of visual codes that can contain much more data than ordinary barcodes due to their matrix structure. What can I do with 2D Sense? 2D Sense makes it easy to connect real world objects and events to your online digital world. Using the iPhone's built-in camera, 2D Sense decodes/reads all the popular 2D code formats providing one click access to websites, videos, music, coupons, telephone numbers, notes and most other types of digital media. How does it work? When you find a code you would like to decode just take a picture via the "Scan" feature and we'll connect you to the embedded information.. It's that easy! * Note - You can use your fingers to center the code image in the viewfinder for better processing. What 2D code formats are supported? Our goal is to become the universal reader for all your 2d code needs. We recognize that there are many 2d code formats out there for different purposes and different needs. With this in mind, we try our best to support open standard formats as well as proprietary ones. In our commitment to become the most standard compliant reader on the market, we support these formats (additional standard format support is under development): QR Code DataMatrix At the same time, we also support other non-standard formats such as: ShotCode Blotcode What else? Via 2dsense.com you can: - Create your own codes - Collect and organize your created and scanned codes * We are just as concerned about privacy as you are, that's why we let you register anonymously and we don't require your age, sex or any other personal information. 2D Sense is a fantastic reader, but it also has additional features you'll find handy... Coupons: In 2008, paper coupons make no sense. They're usually a waste of paper and are usually forgotten when needed the most. Since we carry our iPhones with us all the time, it makes sense to receive and store coupons there. That's the reason we're working very hard to have our partners distribute coupons via our platform. Via 2D Sense you can receive coupons that: - are redeemable only in your area and with vendors you're familiar - are fully digital with video and images of the product - have website and phone number of the vendor - may have map or directions to the vendor nearest to you - provide clear expiration dates and terms - you can share with friends and loved ones - are always with you Tickets: Just as the iPhone makes for a great place to receive and store coupons, we can do the same for tickets. Via selected partners you'll be able to buy your tickets and have them sent to 2D Sense in your iPhone. On the day of the event all you have to do is show the barcode/2d code image stored in 2D Sense and have it scanned. That's it, you are in! In 2D Sense tickets are: - uniquely identifiable - provide event information and location - fully digital 2D Sense - as a ubiquitous computing platform - has many location dependent features such as: Coupons - you may unobtrusively receive coupons that can only be redeemed in your area Maps - we're highly integrated with the iPhone's Map application providing direct access to codes that have embedded locations as well as directions We're really, really trying to make this app one you love to use. At the same time, we're human and as you know, we make mistakes. Please visit our site and give us your feedback or ways in which we can make 2D Sense better. Come visit our site to check all the new exciting stuff we're working on or just send us an email. We love to hear from our users.

Note: The description above is the official one supplied by the application developer and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of this site or its staff.

Get it on iTunes: 2D Sense

Category: Navigation
Released: Aug 13, 2008
Price: $1.99

Description:
Taxi! is your tool for quickly finding great taxi service in the USA. + Find the most popular and most reliable taxi services services for your area. (determined automatically for your location) + Call a taxi with one simple tap on the screen. + Taxi! PRE-SCREENS all Taxi and Cab listings. Unlike other apps, we've actually spoken with each of the 800+ taxi companies in our database. Reliability was often determined by referrals from nearby hotels. + Taxi! gives you RATINGS and feedback collected from you and other Taxi! users - making the choice of who to call even easier. + Each taxi company listed picks up its customers 24/7. + Paper or plastic. Taxi! lists payment options for each taxi service. + CITY COMPATIBILITY: Taxi! works for the 260 US cities with populations over 100,000. Taxi! also lists NYC neighborhood car services. -------------------------------------------- Take the Taxi app challenge! We made Taxi! free so you can try all the Taxi apps. IF YOU TRY US AND YOU THINK Taxi! IS THE BEST TAXI APP, PLEASE THANK US BY WRITING US A NICE REVIEW. We worked hard on this & would love to hear some nice words from you all. ------------------------------------------- NOTE: If you want to see a feature, are having trouble using our software, have a question, or complaint please contact us at tap4taxi@gmail.com. We'll get right back with you. Happy riding! -The Taxi! team

Note: The description above is the official one supplied by the application developer and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of this site or its staff.

Get it on iTunes: Taxi!

Category: Utilities
Released: Aug 20, 2008
Price: Free

Description:
A shopping list. Simple. Easy. Free. Your most recent choices will be remembered to avoid future typing. (Stand by for the next version, which will allow manual removal of remembered items, as requested.)

Note: The description above is the official one supplied by the application developer and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of this site or its staff.

Get it on iTunes: ShopShop

Category: Navigation
Released: Jul 07, 2008
Price: Free

Description:
Turn you iPhone into a superb GPS device ABOUT Even on the move, AirYell is finding you and the places you want. AirYellâ?¢ is the local business and services search tool of choice for your iPhone and iPod touch. Tap it once and it auto locates where you are. It then uses our OneTap® search technology to provide you with the most complete business results located near you. Tap the phone number and dial or or tap on the map and it traces a route to where you want to go. Our mobile application is hands-down a must-have 1st screen app for your mobile device. AirYell is owned by Avantar, a sister company to Yellow Pages Directory. FEATURES - Auto detects your current location - Interactive map with driving directions to each business - Results are displayed for businesses in your vicinity - Tap on the plus sign to add business info to your Contacts - Tap on the map for driving directions - Business phone numbers with a single tap-to-call option COMPATIBILITY - iPhone 3G & previous versions. - iPod touch: Since the iPod touchâ??s online connection is limited to WiFi, you may have to manually set your location COUNTRIES - United States - Canada - Other: Some features may not work properly and may require that you set the location OTHER AVANTAR APPLICATIONS - OneTap Movies - Showtimes - Yellow Pages - Munch

Note: The description above is the official one supplied by the application developer and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of this site or its staff.

Get it on iTunes: AirYell

The following video shows rappers The Game and Bow Wow going head to head as part of a Madden NFL 09 challenge. They were both so confident that they were the best at Madden, that they bet $100,000 each, with the winner donating the 'prize' money to a charity of their choice...

Hi , I'm posting on behalf of my dad who's a DJ..I'm new in the mac buisness and I'm wanting to purchase a macbook/macbook pro soon - so I've been reading up on these forums alot. My dad uses a laptop and a tower at "work" with external harddrives where he rips all his cd's on the harddrives and uses software to load the songs to his decks and perform his mixes e.t.c
This usually happens with the laptop but knowing the nature of windows he has a tower as backup..I noticed the macmini and I was wondering if that would be a sensible choice?
Obviously he would have to buy a monitor and have a mouse/keyboard to plug in..but would it work?
Also, is there any sort of software similar that can be used on macs? (such as PCDJ) - and other custom software that categorizes his music.
(We're talking a couple of terrabytes of mp3's)...
I suggested the change to mac because he seeked stability (I know macs arent perfect but I know how chaotic windows can be)
thanks for your help!

Walter Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal, who has been testing Google's Chrome browser for a week next to the latest version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, concludes "With the emergence of Chrome, consumers have a new and innovative browser choice, and with IE8, the new browser war is sure to be a worthy contest." Many cloud computing enthusiasts are overjoyed with Chrome and call it the first cloud browser or even the basis for a cloud operating system.