Explore History with Google

Dead Sea Scrolls


Five of the Dead Sea Scrolls are available to browse for free online, thanks to a joint project between Google and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The scrolls, which are written on papyrus and parchment, are believed to date back to 150BC and contain the oldest copies of many Biblical texts. Google's ultra-high resolution scanning lets you pick out every crease and blemish in each scroll, and helpfully provides an instant English translation when you highlight a section.


http://dss.collections.imj.org.il

Ancient Rome in 3D



Want to see what ancient Rome really looked like, rather than trying to imagine it from photos of ruins? Then download Google Earth, open the Gallery layer and select the Ancient Rome 3D option. This will take you back to 320AD, where you can explore more than 6,000 3D buildings, such as the Forum, the Colosseum and the Temple of Vesta, including some you can step inside for a closer poke around.
http://earth.google.com/rome


History of places from above



Google Earth also features a 'Historical imagery' tool that lets you see how an area has changed over time. When you're viewing a place from above, click the clock icon on the toolbar and drag the slider bar to the left to move back in time or to the right to move forward. The aerial photography will change accordingly, where available, and sometimes the imagery goes back as far as the 1930s.
http://www.google.com/earth/explore/...istorical.html

Superimpose old clips over their modern-day locations



http://homepage.ntlworld.com/keir.cl...ereandthen.htm


Historical Google Maps



Map collector David Rumsey has combined 120 historical maps from around the world with contemporary Google maps to let you travel back in time without losing your bearings. For example, you can view an incredibly detailed map of England and Wales from 1790, maps of Australia and New Zealand from the 1840s, and a depiction of Tokyo in 1680. You can use the transparency slider to merge the old data with its present-day view.
http://rumsey.geogarage.com
http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/

Read books dating back to 1400


Google's digital library has more than 15 million works, dating back to 1400. Search for a title or a phrase at Google Books, hen filter the results by date using the 'Custom range' option. You can usually browse the full text of older books for free, download them as PDF files, and read on the move using the apps for Android, iPhone and iPad.
http://books.google.com

PSA: Which iOS 6 features can my device run?

So you're eagerly awaiting iOS 6 in the fall, but you'd like to know just how many features you'll end up skipping if you cling on to your existing iPad, iPhone or iPod touch for one more generation. Apple has gone to the trouble of alerting would-be upgraders just what features they'll get when they check for the update this fall, and we've compiled it in a chart for an at-a-glance view of what you'll need. The short answer: you'll want an iPhone 4S if you're craving every iOS 6 feature. Some feature gaps are defined by obvious differences like the absence of cellular hardware, but the performance limits of the iPhone 3GS or fourth-generation iPod touch turn their upgrades into a patchwork. There's also a pair of questions about iPod touch support and whether or not "iPhone 4 or later" explicitly rules out the media player; we'll update should we know more. Either way, it's evident that Apple is bending over backwards to support burgeoning markets, but also that anyone who bought in 2010 or earlier is feeling the pressure to pick up something new -- especially original iPad owners, who can't upgrade at all.

		iPhone 3GS	iPod touch	iPhone 4	iPhone 4S	iPad 2	iPad (2012)
Chinese service integration		X	X	X	X	X	X
Facebook integration		X	X	X	X	X	X
FaceTime over 3G/4G		-	-	-	X	-	X
Flyover and turn-by-turn GPS		-	-	-	X	X	X
Guided Access		X	X	X	X	X	X
Made for iPhone hearing aids		-	-	-	X	-	-
New content stores		X	X	X	X	X	X
Offline Reading List		-	?	X	X	X	X
Passbook		X	X	X	X	-	-
Phone replies and reminders		X	-	X	X	-	-
Safari tab syncing		X	X	X	X	X	X
Shared Photo Streams		-	?	X	X	X	X
Siri		-	-	-	X	-	X
VIP list, flagged/VIP mailboxes		-	?	X	X	X	X

Google Says No to Floating AdSense Ads

floating ads that actually move with you as you scroll through the page. Some floating ads run across the screen and jump in your face.

One would immediately think that floating your AdSense ads in this manner are totally against Google's terms of service.
Why? Because you cannot bring crazy attention to your ads, which drive people to click on them even if they may not necessary mean to.

AdSensePro Jordan, an official Google AdSense representative laid down the law on this in a Google Groups thread, saying they are not allowed:

I've checked with our policy specialists and placing Google ads in a floating script would be a violation of AdSense policy.

Thanks for double-checking before implementing, everyone. Also please feel free to link other users to this thread if they want official confirmation of the policy.

Apple intros new iPad Smart Case

Apple intros new iPad Smart Case, clever enough to cover both sides

And we're still not done. A new iPad case has managed to sneak onto the Apple Store's online shelves, and it'll protect your precious slab on both the back and front. The Smart Case appears to augment last year's Smart Cover with an additional (polyurethane hardshell) coating for the back of your iPad.

Priced at just under $50, the case fits both second and third-generation iPads and will arrive in six different color options. And yes, you can still get that ever-pressing message engraved onto it too.

Columbia announces Omni-Freeze ZERO, sports gear that cools you down the hotter

Columbia is announcing the Omni-Freeze ZERO, a range of sports gear that cools you the more you sweat. Blue rings of cooling polymer cover the garments, which swell when exposed to moisture -- letting air pass around you as if you had goosebumps.

Unlike typical compression garments, which wick the sweat away from you, this puts your natural resources to good use, so much so that the company believes it's cooler than taking your top off entirely. The futuristic gear will also turn up in a new range of footwear, but before you can get too excited, there's a catch; it isn't due to hit stores until next year, so you've still got a few months of getting sweaty.

YouTube Video Here 

Next Generation Cars

Roads were made to enable auto mobiles to travel quickly between distant settlements. Over the last few decades, much effort has been put in to literally, ‘getting the show off the road’ for auto mobiles. New automotive Research and Development seems to hint that the road might soon become just a point of access to another mode of transportation for your car – air, or even water!

Terrafugia’s transition
The most significant effort in the creation of a ‘Flying Car’ is by a company called ‘Terrafugia’ set up by MIT graduates in Massachusetts in 2006. But this one is a ‘Roadable Aircraft’ called ‘Transition’.

There are no bolts and nothing to put together or dismantle but you’d need to be a driver as well as a pilot to be able to use one of these. Terrafugia hopes to launch its first commercial model in 2011 and has already received 70 orders as of September 2009. This one will be a two-seater, which can travel 725 km at a speed of about 115 km/hr in air.


Moller International’s Skycar
Paul Moller’s invention is the ‘Skycar’ – a personal Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) 4-seat aircraft which, uses four pairs of Wankel Rotary engines, and, it is claimed, can hover 15 feet above the ground. It has four ducted fans with covered propellers to increase safety.

This ‘flying car’ has been several decades in the making and Moller has had to postpone projections of its launch more than twice. The present craft under production is the M400 which is planned in single as well as 6-seat versions.


Parajet Skycar

The Parajet Skycar actually flew and drove its way from London to Timbuktu in January 2009 without a hitch and has been declared the world’s first legal flying car. It has a top speed of 180 kmph and a maximum range of 400 kilometres. The car is basically constructed from a dune buggy combined with a paramotor (one of those paragliding contraptions which have a set of motorized propellers at the pilot’s back) for greater thrust and propulsion and a parafoil (the flat sail of a paraglider) to increase the lift.



Labiche’s FSC-1

Mitch Labiche’s Labiche Aerospace has designed the FSC-1 which is basically a car that can open out into an aeroplane with the push of a button, or conversely, an aeroplane that can fold up to become a car.


Aquada

Using High Speed Amphibian technology (HAS), Gibbs Technologies led by Alan Gibbs has launched the Aquada in the USA. The HAS is a technology that has been developed over a period of seven years and can now even be applied to vehicles weighing up to 10 tons. The Aquada can travel at a maximum speed of 160 kmph on land and of about 49 kmph on water.
Once it enters the water, the wheels can be retracted, like in an airplane, thus significantly reducing the drag. With the press of a button, the wheels retract the car senses it is in water, activates the jet to propel it in water and changes the headlights into marine lights. It is buoyant and cannot sink.


The Skybike

Samson Motorworks’ Skybike is a three wheeled motorcycle that can be flown or driven on the streets with equal efficiency. Led by Sam Bousfield, an inventor with several patents to his name, this Sacramento- based company hopes to launch a radio-controlled model of its attractively titled ‘Switchblade’ flying bike up for display in a few months.


Hoverpod

Entecho, an Australian company has combined a new rotor technology with unique lifting surfaces to create a flying machine that looks like a typical flying saucer. A centrifugal fan causes the air under the car to move radially from the center towards the outside, generating lift as the ‘skirt’ – the airtight flexible membrane beneath the level of the rotor – blows up, directing the flow of the air downwards.


Air Car
In an extraordinary tie-up with Luxembourg based MDI (Motor Development International), Tata Motors (India) has been working hard for the last two years, to put the finishing touches to a technology that will enable their cars to run on air.

While these cars are all set to hit the roads of France by 2011, it’s their features that make you sit up and pay attention. Compressed Air cars usually use a motor powered by compressed air – or combine them with gasoline, diesel, electric or ethanol engines – to help gain higher speeds. France’s MDI plans several such hybrids to tide over this bug.
Tata’s vehicle, called the ‘Minicat’, is purely run on an air-compression engine, is a zero-emission vehicle and might even be launched this year, as the first batch has already completed production at its Uttarakhand factory in Pantnagar. The company claims that the vehicle can reach a speed of 96 kilometres per hour and cover a range of 300 kilometres on a full tank of air.

Blackout for Vimeo, The Pirate Bay and more

The Pirate Bay and other large BitTorrent sites are now being blocked by Internet providers in India. Visitors who try to access the sites are redirected to a banner which informs them that the Department of Telecommunications ordered a blackout. Torrent sites are not the only target, as the blockade also censors the video sharing site Vimeo, one of the largest communities of indie filmmakers.

According to growing reports from India, subscribers of several large Internet service providers can no longer access The Pirate Bay, KickAssTorrents, BitSnoop and several other BitTorrent sites. In what appears to be a Government-ordered blackout, the websites in question are all being blocked at the ISP level.

Interestingly, torrent sites are not the only target. A similar block is also restricting access to the popular video sharing platform Vimeo, a site mostly used by indie filmmakers to share their work.

While there has been no official announcement, the blockade is currently affecting users of several large internet providers including Reliance Communications and Zylog Wi5.

Instead of gaining access to the sites above, subscribers are redirected to a message claiming that the site is “blocked as per instructions from Department of Telecom.




While the exact reason for the blockade is unclear, the warning banner is the same as one users got when Megaupload, RapidShare and other popular cyberlocker services were censored last year.

This blockade turned out to be an overbroad implementation of a so called “John Doe order” which prohibited Internet providers from allowing subscriber access to unauthorized copies an upcoming Bollywood movie.

Whatever the reason for the current blackout, it’s clear that the Indian entertainment industries have access to tools Hollywood can only dream of. Either directly, of with help from the Government, allegedly infringing websites can be pulled down without a trial. Just last month more than 100 music sites were censored upon request from several music labels.

For the millions of filmmakers on Vimeo this new reality will be a rude awakening, but for the folks at The Pirate Bay it is hardly a surprise.

The notorious torrent site is already blocked in numerous countries, most recently the UK. And with the current pro-blocking climate, we doubt that India will be the last country to hop on the banwagon.