General: Just like on the crime tele-movies

For a measly US$40, you can have voice-changer software on your PC!
http://www.screamingbee.com/product/MorphVOX.aspx?adid=349

It's worth a listen to the demos of male-Female changes (both ways) plus added background.noise

It works with stacks of games and communications programs -
...
MorphVOX Pro voice changing software can be used with all online games including World of Warcraft, EVE Online, Second Life, Lord of the Rings Online, Everquest, Counter-Strike, Battlefield 2 and many more.

It also integrates with VoIP and Instant Messaging programs such as Skype, Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, AIM, XFire, GoogleTalk, Roger Wilco and more.

In the studio, MorphVOX Pro integrates with multimedia applications such as Sound Forge, Vegas, ACID, Audacity, IClone and much more.
...

And if you should happen to have a need for it -
http://www.screamingbee.com/product/FurryVoicesforSecondLife.aspx
I'm just sayin'...

Techo: A free seamless texture creation tool

This free tool is handy for creating textures that tile without visible joins, both for 3D modelling work and as backgrounds for web pages etc'.
And don't think it can only do plain wood textures.

http://www.spiralgraphics.biz/ww_overview.htm

Here's one I made in a couple of minutes -


The tool itself is only a 4.5 MB download, if you would like a downloadable friendly tutorial video of it in use, this one is 130 MB -

http://vidtuts.s3.amazonaws.com/Make-seamless-textures-with-Wood-Workshop.mp4

This link shows a lower-resolution version of the tutorial, but also has links to hundreds of ready-made seamless textures -
http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/06/28/make-seamless-textures-with-wood-workshop-video-tip-of-the-week-40/

General: Finally! (well, hopefully soon anyway)

A lot of people have been waiting a long time for this to happen.

http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/

It looks like it will be a lot of fun but with no mention of a release date, there's no telling when it will be fun.

Techo: Was Dr Who right all those years ago?

This article -
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-self-organizing-quantum-universe
mentions -
"A theory of quantum gravity aims to describe the nature of spacetime on the very smallest scales—the voids in between the smallest known elementary particles—by quantum laws and possibly explain it in terms of some fundamental constituents."

That sounds a lot like "Interstitial Space" as mentioned in Dr Who decades ago, this is a comparatively recent mention of it -
http://www.drwhoguide.com/who_ma33.htm

Anyway, if you have a heap of time spare, it's a very interesting article (imo as always).

General: Free Game time again

This time an odd-ball MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) based around competing factions led by Bo Peep and Little Red Riding Hood!

The web-site has a rather nice scrollable text with a static graphical front overlay, worth a look just by itself (imo).

http://www.secondhandlands.com/

A snippet -
"Secondhand Lands ...
is the massively multiplayer online game set in a parody fairytale world. There will be none of those pansy elves or cantankerous dwarves in this land. Our heroes are comprised of the Wolves and the Sheep who have pledged their undying allegiance to Bo Peep or Little Red Riding Hood. Well, perhaps not undying... "

General: No ice at the North Pole

This Year!
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/exclusive-no-ice-at-the-north-pole-855406.html
Worth a read, I'll bet they'll be prospecting for oil quick smart!

Techo: Aussie Telco's screw us so bad

I pay $80 for 25GB a month at 1.5 Mbps up and 256Kbps down, so this story about a new Japanese broadband cap makes me really depressed.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080625-japanese-isp-institutes-upload-caps-of-30gb-daily.html

That's a cap of 30 Gigabytes UPLOAD per day over 100 Mbps fibre (100 Mbps both ways!) with UNLIMITED downloads!
Telstra still apparently doubts that the market will use all the bandwidth that they can supply, so we're still in the dark ages of wire to the home.
It's cold comfort that the US telco' infrastructure is (according to the article) similarly retarded and their carriers are now adopting download caps too.

UPDATE
I wondered how much the japanese paid for that, so I Googled "Japan broadband cost" (without the quotes). Now I'm really sad!
http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/656.html
$0.22 per Mbit per Second per month, That's $22 a month for 100 Mbit!

How did it get to be like that? Here are some clues -
http://www.itif.org/files/Ebihara_Japanese_Broadband.pdf

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Sigh, However, since I get a new 25GB allocation starting tomorrow and have 6GB to use up today (I'm always careful to leave plenty for my wife to VPN into work from home), I have decided to get this 5-part documentary on the history of the computer -
http://waxy.org/2008/06/the_machine_that_changed_the_world_the_world_at_your_fingertips/

If you don't have a torrent download program, may I recommend Vuze (formerly Azureus) as an easy to use tool with a good catalogue of continually updated media recommendations built right in -
http://www.vuze.com/app

Obit: How old is Big-Bird? 6 or 74?

Introducing a new category 'Obit:', for those who like to avoid them as well as those who want to see who they've out-lived!

Sadly, we kick off the new category with the demise of Kermit Love, the creator of Sesame Street's Big-Bird.
In this article you will find the answer to the question and other fun trivia.
The sign-up to the New York Times is free and no spam ensues, so why wouldn't you?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/arts/24love.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

He sounds to have been a real nice chap, I'm always a bit happier when such folk leave something they created or achieved in the world to remember them by.

General: Thinking straight can be tricky

I was looking for a different 'Ruth effect' this morning, but this little (430KB) PDF was certainly worth the download and read.
http://www.turtletrader.com/pdfs/babe-ruth.pdf
It seems to be endless, the way our gut instincts are at odds with reality when it comes to thinking about risk and probability.

(Here's what I was looking for btw - https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-5668)

General: Whatever became of Levelord?

Or, "Richard Bailey Gray III" the great 3D Level designer.
It's only THIS hard to find out -
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Levellord

Here are some good relatively recent pages, up to yesterday even:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Gray

http://www.levelord.com/

http://cdb2.deviantart.com/

Enjoy!

I really must make a rendition of this in Second Life -

General: XP Users Safe Until 2014

Microsoft has pushed XP support out to 13 years instead of the usual 10, that takes it up to April 2014.

Windows XP sales to the public stop on June 30th, but the article has a solution to that.
Microsoft Extends Support for Windows XP To 13 Years

Windows 7 is looking like arriving in 2010.

Techo: Way overdue RAM capacity advance

The 64-bit CPU and OS guys and the RAM guys seem to have been waiting for each other to make the first mass marketing moves. Now WinChip has made the first move with a 4-slot 16GB DDR2 kit.

I rather think this will actually get the ball rolling for 64-bit Operating Systems sales, up to now it hasn't been worth losing backwards compatibility with 16-bit applications for the small RAM and performance improvements of 64-bit.
(At the non-professional/enthusiast price point on readily available mainboards that support 4GB DRAM DIMMS, that is)

Winchip DDR2 667 MHz 16 GB Quad Kit

Techo: Ray-Tracing and 2 free games

Well, a free Ray-Tracing 3D engine, one free game and another game in Beta that will be available for free when completed in early July.

First, the fascinating article with plenty of sample pictures -
Ray Tracing in Games: A Story from The Other Side


And where to pick up the games - Arauna Realtime Ray Tracing

General: Have your Avatar call my Avatar

Here's a nice little article to please all of us Second-Lifers -
Have your avatar call my avatar: Doing business virtually

Here's a clue from it -
"...Don't worry if you don't have an avatar yet. It's still early. But be warned: Many think it's just a matter of time before being "in-world" becomes as important for business as having a Web site and standard teleconferencing equipment is...."

General: Lucky she wasn't killed in the rush

A good plan by a smart girl. It raised 5 helicopters and 80 Emergency Workers!
Sports bra saves US hiker in German Alps

General: What Bill actually said

He never said anything like '640K is enough for anybody'.
But what he HAS said makes interesting reading (imo).
The Quotable Bill Gates

General: The Microsoft gang reunited

The original Microsoft team from the famous 70's photo reunite for Bills departure photo'.

Read all about it, as they say -http://www.newsweek.com/id/142636

Techo: Via debuts Mini-ITX 2.0

This will be of interest to several folk formerly on my mailing list!

"Via Technologies has launched gen 2 of its signature mini-motherboard standard. Mini-ITX 2.0, an evolutionary update to the seven-year-old 170×170mm form-factor, introduces new and emerging buses and interfaces such as PCI Express, SATA, Gig-E, and HD A/V, while preserving backwards-compatibility with the original standard."

Now read on...

Via debuts Mini-ITX 2.0

Not that Intel isn't interested in this market too...
http://www.intel.com/products/motherboard/DG45FC/index.htm

General: Office 2008 looks likely

Darn, just when I get moved up to Office 2007, MS sees sense!

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/06/20/odf-clearly-won-microsoft-exec

We can always hope that they'll make ODF native support a free upgrade for users who paid good money for Office 2007. Hoping works, right?

General: Winter Magic

It's that time of year again! Just as they get Summer in the northern hemisphere we celebrate Winter here in the Blue Mountains.
http://www.wintermagic.com.au/

I'm looking forward to some tasty and exotic treats from the many stalls.

Update, Some piccies that I took - Winter Magic Photoset

Techo: It looks like Mars has water!

The scientists are pretty sure that the shiny lumps that have vanished from their trench were ice.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/phoenix/release.php?ArticleID=1753

Now that really improves the outlook for our first foothold on another planet!

Techo: Old and New tech in future Intel chips

Embedded memory in processors has been attempted before, but a two-transistor memory cell that works at enormous speeds could radically change both processor speeds and programming models as cache-misses become a rarity.
http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-38009-135.html

General: In The Beginning...

UnderLord finally joined the Twenty-First Century by deciding to put his News links, opinions, musings and comments in a blog.
Hence-forth, people too polite to decline my frequent emails will be saved the trouble of ignoring or deleting them and can now just avoid this site entirely!
But who knows, perhaps I'll pick up one or two new readers/friends along the way.

The blog will feature both Techo' and General Interest items and I will identify how I think they should be categogorised by the heading prefix "Techo:" or "General:" so you can choose your own comfort level.

Off we go then!