Complicated World, Simple Solutions…

Simplify your life, your business and your world.

The Internet is about to face one of its most serious issues in its history: experts have warned that the Internet is running out of IP addresses. 94% of the available internet addresses have already been allocated and the remaining 6% are projected to be used up by 2011.

Currently, the web uses IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4). 32-bit numbers are used, meaning about 4 billion addresses are available. The challenge is to switch to IPv6 which is 128 bit and has much more IP addresses available. Adoption of IPv6 has been slow; however, Google and Facebook have recently made great strides to begin to deploy IPv6.

Though there are ways around the lack of IPs such as having devices share an IP, those are just temporary solutions. The long-term solution still must be the deployment of IPv6 in the future.

Read more…

Yes, there is a robotic exoskeleton that makes it easier for soldiers to run and carry heavy weights called the HULC. Yes, it is ridiculously awesome. Yes, it is ready for soldier tests now. What does that mean for enemies of the US? I don’t know but probably something bad.

Just to give you an idea of its capabilities here are some quotes from the article: “allows soldiers to carry weights of up to 200lbs (91kg) with little effort”, “uses an onboard computer to sense and mimic the user’s movements”, and “can pulverize a man’s face with a single blow”. OK, that last one isn’t true but anytime we can get closer to a world like Starship Troopers thats a good thing.

Read more

Delivering news digitally in a personalized manner is a nut many a startup – as well as many established Internet companies and publishers – are desperately trying to crack. Recent start-up Hawthorne Labs is no different. The company has just released their first application called APOLLO for the iPad.

Apollo is quite similar to Pandora in that it uses an algorithm (using factors such as time spent on articles, sources favorited, articles liked/not-liked as well as social elements like Twitter and Facebook mentions and similar peoples’ tastes etc.) to help users discover the best content for them in a variety of categories (Top News, Business, Tech, Sports and so on).

The team behind the company consists of ex-Google News and Bing engineers so it looks like they know what they’re doing.

To read more go here

Just weeks into the iPhone 4 era and the roll out has been anything but smooth. Complaints ranging from antenna reception flaws to faulty proximity sensors have plagued the initial run of iPhone 4’s. To make matters worse the customer service which Apple traditionally hangs it’s hat on has come under fire, most infamously advising customers to hold their iPhone differently to combat bad reception. Another issue is the rocky start the iOS 4 (operating system for the new iPhone) had at launch; however, the past few weeks has seen it become more stable.

While a recall might not happen and might not be needed, the fact remains the iPhone 4 launch has dented Apple’s credibility and put a chink in it’s armor. How Apple deals with this adversity will be very interesting to see in the future.

Read More

According to this video from Intel Labs tabletop computing is the future user experience. It uses projected displays on everyday household surfaces like kitchen counter-tops to create interactive “islands”. So while your cooking up a storm in the kitchen you could be watching “Twister”… or “The Day After Tomorrow”… or just “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” cause you love Will Smith. Anyway whatever you’re fancy is, this idea is definitely intriguing.

Video after the jump: Smart Computing Islands on Everyday Surfaces

Ever been away from your computer but needed to work on a word document you have saved? Well with the Zoho Online Office Suite you can access and work on your documents wherever you are as long as you have internet access. You can store and edit up to 1 GB worth of documents with a free account.

For more information click here

The new Microsoft Office is out! With many new features, and different packages for its various customers, this new software is something to check out. Read a brief overview here or to read a full review of it click here.

Lost amid the hubbub about the new iPhone is the release of the latest version of Apple web browser Safari. Apple is saying that the new version is 3% faster than the latest stable build of Chrome (5.0) and twice as fast as Firefox 3.6. All of this is based on SunSpider JavaScript tests of Apple’s latest Nitro engine. Safari is also adding a new feature called “Reader” which will make it easier to read webpages by taking away all the excess design (and ads).

The link to download Safari is here

Read more about the release here

Don’t have a graphics editor but want to add special effects to your photos? Well this tutorial about the Artistic Effects feature in Office 2010 is sure to help you!

Read more here

That’s right, Chromium. What is it? It is Google’s new OS. This operating system is quite different from Windows or Macs. This OS is based off Google Chrome which is Google’s web browser. However, this OS cannot be installed through discs or upgrading your laptop. You must buy a net book or laptop designed for the Google Chrome OS and has it already pre-installed. Why you ask? Because Google Chrome OS is a strictly web-based OS. That means you can’t even log on unless you have access to the internet so this OS isn’t for everyone.

But on the bright side, you no longer have a hard drive that stores everything and have to worry about it crashing or failing. These net books with Chromium already install have a solid-state flash memory because everything you need is stored online through Google’s servers. This OS also only works with online applications. If you perform regular word processing or spreadsheet work, you could easily use Google Docs. One more perk to Chromium is its claim for speed. While the usual Windows OS takes roughly a minute to load, Chromium can load in 7 seconds. Fast huh?

If you’re interested in learning more about the oddities of this OS, click here.