A search with Tafiti (Image from: WikiHow)

Tafiti is a Silverlight (“Microsoft’s Flash”) based research tool. It uses the Live search engine to power its results. On the right side there is a place where you can save pages for later reference, and you can stack them to for similar topics, you can also label the groups too, so you remember which stack is which. You can also save these to a Live Space or email it to others.
You can select what you want to search for from the little circle thing on the bottom left side. A nice feature is that you can easily “filter” the results (adding a second search term) by using the box at the top right corner of the results page.
A cool thing you can do is that you can change the results into a 3d “tree view” giving you a web like view of the results that you can rotate.
The thing with Tafiti is that although it is cool, it isn’t that useful as it uses the Live engine which isn’t that good. If Microsoft comes up with an app that will allow you to use any engine and integrate services and sites like Wikipedia and Digg, it could be a great tool.

Well, the iPhone came out quite some time ago, the GPhone (Google Phone) has its rumors and there are also rumors for a phone from Microsoft (No, not the ZunePhone). But what if Funknowledge came up with a phone. So here I’ll talk about what features are rumored to be on the “upcoming” phones and what the iPhone and other smartphones could have done better. I might also over the next few days make a little diagram of it. This is supposed to be a discussion and a time to reflect. So anyone who wants to, post a comment, or email me at funknowledge@gmail.com.

Although stupid, it is pretty funny
(From Mac4ever.com) <= Oh, really.

We’ll start with what the iPhone didn’t do well. First of all, which is one of the most evil: the tight integration between iTunes, you have to activate it through that, download stuff through that and do everything else through that! I hate Apple’s enclosed circle of its products. Also the no stereo Bluetooth and 3G, is kind of disappointing even though it is a pretty expensive phone.

The recessed headphone jack is pretty annoying too, especially if you bought a set of expensive earbuds (or headphones), and you can’t use it along with your $399 iPhone.

There are also numerous features missing like no flash or editing on photos, no video, no self portrait mirror, no external memory card slot, and low volume.

The good things on it we like. The sleek design and interface we loved. The picture quality and additional apps (Youtube, Google Maps) were nice. Even the battery life was good when used normally. So we’ll take those into consideration.

Next, the business people Blackberrys. These are actually not that bad. Although they are not great “fun” devices, they are the preferred device for many companies as they can surf the internet, use third party apps, and are good for emails. But, we’ll want to make “our” phone a little more friendly for the average customer.

The Blackberry 8800 (Courtesy of Phonesreview.co.uk)

Now, the Windows Mobile Based Phones. These mainly come from HTC. The Touch (Not to be confused with the iPod Touch) is a Windows Mobile 6 based phone. It also features finger control (TouchFLO, and it can’t be used in landscape), but you can also use a stylus (which you can’t on an iPhone). TouchFLO features a 3D cube where you can easily access all your basic stuff. The phone also has a modified Home screen that has a lot of basic information (Time, Weather, and a Schedule) and you can also access some programs through this. The Touch uses the normal Windows Mobile keyboard which is small and cramped, only fit for a stylus, making it slow and a pain. The SIM card and MicroSD slot are also hard to get to.

The HTC Touch (From Intomobile.com)

The camera on this phone is 2.0 megapixels, but the picture quality was only OK, but it does have a self portrait mirror and video.

The GPhone (Google Phone) will supposedly use a Linux based operating system and have Java based applications which is said to be very responsive. The thing is that Google hasn’t been denying the GPhone exists, so it could actually be coming. Also back in 2005, Google bought a Android, a phone software producer, further confirming this theory.

A possible design of the gPhone
(From SciFi.com)

With the GPhone it probably won’t be a shiny and good looking as the iPhone. They’ll most likely be focused on usability. It might even have ads so you can have lower priced service, but I’m not sure what the public would think of that. It is said also to have a large color screen and a predictive Qwerty keyboard so you can type faster. It is likely if it is made that the maker will be HTC.

Another gPhone mockup
(From SciFi.com)

Although the iPhone has Google Maps, it isn’t really useful unless it has GPS, and the GPhone might do just that.

One more mockup of the gPhone

Microsoft doesn’t really have too many good rumors on making a phone, but they have some ideas on phones and calling in general. Bill Gates believes that calling should be moved the the computer and the internet. This in fact is a good idea but will not likely actually happen for quite some time. The VoIP thing although works well, isn’t as reliable as normal phones, and until it becomes that, not everyone will make the switch.

So what will the Funknowledge Phone be like? Well, we want to combine the good ideas and get rid of the bad. So help us design it and we can come up with a phone that will be sleek, at a reasonable price, easy to use, and innovating. So post a comment or email me at funknowledge@gmail.com.

Today is the 2007 Blog Action Day where bloggers around the world all write about how to help save the environment. It is an event supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Opera, Mokono, Reddit and a few other organizations and the website development, hosting and promotion is done by Eden.cc.
I’ve decided to discuss about renewable and clean resources. One, because it is the best way to clean up the atmosphere, and two because I can still talk about some technology!

Ethanol

First, I’ll start with my favorite, making energy with plants, Ethanol! Yes, energy from corn or other high in cellulosic plants. This is basically the best way to cure our oil addiction. Although it is not completely clean, it is 80% cleaner (according to Wikipedia) meaning it will help our planet a lot if it replaces oil, and it won’t be too hard to convert existing cars to work on ethanol. Thus, making this the best way to replace oil. The only problem right now is that we can’t get enough to totally replace gas. The actual process is simple enough to understand: Take a plant, extract the cellulose, and some enzymes to it and turn that into sugars. Then ferment the sugar and it turns into alcohol and distill into usable fuel. The only problem is that although cellulose is everywhere in plant cell walls making it a unlimited fuel source, cellulose is hard to break down. Nature has given many animals the power to do this, but harnessing them to do it quicker is not easy.

Right now, it is made mostly from corn, which is not the best source (It only produces 30% more energy that it takes to grow and process it (According to Wired Magazine)). Scientists now think that switchgrass is our best bet. This plant will produce 80% more energy than growing and producing it, much more than corn. The problem is, it can’t be produced at a cheap enough price to challenge gas.
Some people like Lee Lynd are approaching it as making an all-in-one factory. He is trying to create a bacterium that will take cellulose and spit out ethanol. People think he’ll do it, but how long it will take is the question.

Others are like Joel Cherry who want to make a cheaper enzyme. Cherry and his team after four years say that they have reduced the cost of the enzyme mixture from $5 per gallon of ethanol to under a dollar.

And finally the companies who want to find a better enzyme, like Verenium. Nature’s creations like termites process cellulose easily. They have taken the termite and removed the insides and together with the Department of Energy they want to find the genes that make it so good at breaking the tough molecule. After that they’ll try and find the best mix of celluloses.

Wind and Solar Energy

Wind, you feel that everywhere. The Sun, that’s just about everywhere too. Why not use it? According to Wikipedia, only 1% of the world’s energy is produced through wind turbines. There is an estimated 50 to 100 times more wind energy than biomass (Ethanol), most of which is at high altitudes.

Most wind turbines right now are firmly attached to the ground, and only harnessing the power of the wind close to the ground. Others that are attached to the ground under the sea are most effective since the wind come from the sea, but the most effective is in the air, preferably the jetstreams where winds are continuously over 100 mph.

A modern Wind Turbine near Aalborg, Denmark

Solar energy is using the sun’s rays to make energy. The main reason why they are not used very commonly is since they are expensive to make, thus making the prices of electricity higher, which US citizens don’t want. Now as the prices drop they are becoming more popular. In many places the solar panel will cover the cost in only five to ten years, and after that, it’s free electricity!

A Solar Power Plant near Surpa, Portugal

What YOU can do

As global warming becomes more of a problem, we need to take action. If we want to have our children live normal lives without higher than normal temperatures, more hurricanes, or sea level, we have to change what we are doing now. The Earth could be destroyed if we continue what we are doing, but that won’t happen. Everyone needs to take action whether it is doing research in a lab or just changing your light bulbs to the more efficient kinds or just turning off the light when you are not using it. This way, Earth will stay a wonderful place with a wide diversity of life. I hope you will decide to help save the world!

All Images from Wikipedia.
Special Thanks to Wired magazine for providing info on Ethanol.

So, have you noticed something?

Of course you have! Today over Labor Day with not much to do, Funknowledge got a face lift! I really hope you like the title of the Blog. I made it on Paint.NET with various letters from different logos. The “F” is the Fedora logo, the “u” in Fun is from the Universal Studios’ logo, the “g” in knowledge is part of GE’s logo, and the funny cut off “g” in blog is from Samsung’s logo (the edge of it). Obviously the “B” in Blog is the Blogger logo!

In addition to the title update, the scheme has changed too. I’ve used the previous one for about a year now, so why not change it to a different one!

Also, something that is more hidden. The Funknowledge Network has a new part! Now when you click on “Our Website” it goes to a similarly titled website (With the cool looking letters) on Weebly. This is the OFFICAL site, not the Googlepage, and definitely not the Awardspace one (which isn’t even continued anymore).

It has only a few things on it, but the best part of it is the “Tech Info” section. The article here are right now all from the Funknowledge Blog, with some revisions to suit the needs of an informational database. There probably are some parts not quite right, but it’ll be a good place to look for info on the latest tech. Some articles are not on there yet, so in the meantime, search my blog with the newly added Google Search feature for the article you are looking for!

If you have any comments, suggestions, or ideas contact me at funknowledge@gmail.com or submit it at the Survey on either the website or here (Also located on the sidebar after “Subscribe to my Blog!”. I’m not sure how well these forms work, so I might not receive your feedback, but I’m working on it!

After Apple releases the new iPods guess who comes along. Yep! Microsoft. It will come in a 4GB Model, a 8GB Model, and an an 80 GB Model. (The larger one is the 80GB one, and that’s the only color it’ll come in, but the smaller ones come in red, green, pink, and black.) Microsoft has added some features that many people have wanted including wireless sync and Zune Social. The new Zune, and the older Zunes will get the wireless sync feature with the upcoming firmware upgrade. The design of the Zune is quite similar to the first generation, but the screen is slightly bigger (3.2 inches) and will have a sightly different way of navigation.

The Zune website is planning to add a new online music community. This is sort of like Last.fm but Microsoft style. Zune owners will make “Zune Cards” which according to Crave is a little gadget that will send your favorite songs to the site and your friends will be able to see it and maybe hear a preview.

The new Zune will also feature a new interface, although is similar to the original, is much sleeker and cooler. The big rounded square in the middle is supposedly a 5 way button (up, down, left, right, middle) and is also touch sensitive for users to scroll around the menus.
You will also be able to put your recorded TV shows from Windows Media Center on your Zune and any podcasts (Zunecasts) from online.

Zune 2.0 is coming out this month and according to Engadget on the 16th. If you want to see more photos of the new Zune see this Cnet Crave slideshow at http://crave.cnet.com/4335-1_105-6591203.html.

The new Zunes all lined up!
Image courtesy of Cnet’s Crave Blog