Virtualization with Oracle (Formerly Sun) VirtualBox

 

About VirtualBox:

VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). - VirtualBox Official Website
 

Blog Update: New Look and Feel

I finally got around to sprucing up the blog. I got a new template and did a little HTML coding and everything seems to be running along smoothly. If your looking for a new template check out BTemplates. Although you should definitely back up your existing one first and make sure you try out a few pages once a new template is loaded to make sure things are working alright. It also helps to go for Templates that have a lot downloads as they tend to be tried and trued in a working as expected regard. Other than the new look, I've embedded a Google Search and also added ShareThis buttons to the pages so if you like something feel free to share it.

Fireworks Replacement for Linux

Having used Adobe Fireworks at school I got quite used to the simple interface and ease of use. However trying to run it under Linux isn't an easy venture, usually involving WINE and copying from an installed source. Plus there is the cost of buying the license to use it which is none to appealing for the home user, or even small business.

Program for Atmegas using Arudino IDE

So after slaving away for days and giving up on multiple occasions I discovered that you can write programs in the Arduino IDE and simply take the .hex file produced and burn it to my plain old atmega8 micro controllers. How awesome is that? This allows the amateur to use all the easy built in libraries of the Arduino software, without springing for full Arduino platforms and having a lot less circuitry so one can use this to go right from prototyping to finished model. Just remember to wire the pins according to this image

Google Apps

Lately I have been using a lot of Google Apps at work, the concept behind it is brilliant. Everything is cloud based and functionality is reaching above general usability across the board on all of the non-beta services. Responsiveness is quick, customization is good, and the apps are improving everyday. To date I could easily use Google for all my Docs, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Email, Blogging. Chrome is nice, and I use it when interacting with any Google services but still hasn't beat out Firefox as my primary browser. Google Sites is a wonderful tool but due to the lack of customization that I can get out of it compared to their other services like Blogger, it will be a while before I use it exclusively over some custom designed sites. That said i doubt it will be long before they catch up in that regard either.