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ficken writes “The great micro vs. monolithic kernel is still alive and well. Andy Tanenbaum weighs in with another article about the virtues of microkernels. From the article: ‘Over the years there have been endless postings on forums such as Slashdot about how microkernels are slow, how microkernels are hard to program, how they aren’t in use commercially, and a lot of other nonsense. Virtually all of these postings have come from people who don’t have a clue what a microkernel is or what one can do. I think it would raise the level of discussion if people making such postings would first try a microkernel-based operating system and then make postings like “I tried an OS based on a microkernel and I observed X, Y, and Z first hand.” Has a lot more credibility.’”

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Jack Spine writes “A robotics researcher at Accenture has given a demonstration of a ‘Pocket Supercomputer’ — a phone behaving like a thin client. It can be used to send images and video of objects in real time to a server where they can be identified and linked to relevant information, which can then be sent back to the user. ‘The camera on the phone is used to take a video of an object — such as a book … By offloading the processing from a mobile device onto a server, there are few limits on the size and processing power available to be used for the storage and search of images.’ To pinpoint the features necessary to identify an object, the image is run through an algorithm called Scale-Invariant Feature Transform, or SIFT, a technology developed by academic David Lowe. The software extracts feature points from a jpeg and makes a match against images in the database. If a match exists then the software on the server retrieves information and sends it back to the user’s phone. A ‘three-dimensional’ image of an object can also be uploaded onto the phone, to look at the virtual object from different angles. The motion-tracking technology Accenture uses for this is a free library of algorithms called Open Computer Vision.”

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DigitalDame2 writes “”There’s nothing wrong with Vista,” PC Mag editor-in-chief Lance Ulanoff tells a Microsoft rep at this year’s CES. “but you guys have a big problem on your hands. Perception is reality, and the perception is that Vista is a dud.” He goes on to confess that the operating system is too complex and burdened by things people don’t need. Plus, Vista sometimes seems so slow. Ulanoff gives four suggestions for a complete Vista makeover, like starting with new code and creating a universal interface table. But will Microsoft really listen?”

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Before I owned my first Mac, Quicksilver was the application that made me wish I did. Luckily, slowly but surely, Windows developers began building apps intended to successfully attain that…

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Leopard only: A lesser-hyped feature in Mac 10.5 is Web Clips—the ability to turn a section of any web page into a Dashboard widget. We’re not huge fans of gadgets and widgets around here,…

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Three years ago today we launched Lifehacker onto the internets like a little boat of productivity set a sail in a sea of distraction, procrastination, and interruption. Thanks to you, our loyal…

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Yahoo Finance posts a list of common-but-easily-missed tax deductions that stems from an interview with the head of the IRS, who said that he imagined millions of people were over-paying each year…

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The CyberNet weblog follows up on their previous tip for creating quick-kill shortcuts for individual programs in Windows by expanding the idea to an automated batch file that kills off a bunch of…

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RealSimple has a nifty compilation of tips for cooks who like to make authentic recipes but don’t necessarily have an entire afternoon to prep a meal. Some common gourmet actions, like draining…

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If you like the idea of online bookmarking but don’t necessarily care about the “social” or tagging aspects of sites like del.icio.us or Digg, Instapaper is the site for you. Rather than adding…

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