CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-20 09:22:04 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

An incredible article from +Aeon Magazine Steven Poole about how much #computers (more precisely: the #algorithms running in them) slowly take control of decisions made in our lifes.

Imagine this situation: it is year 2035 and everybody drives +Google #SelfDrivingCars . On a rainy night you travel alone thru a narrow, slippery bridge. Below there is a 100-meter deep gorge, full of rocks. In the opposite direction there is a bus coming , full of kids on a narrow bridge. Suddenly your car starts to skid and it cannot stop.

The #computer running your car (as well as the other one in the bus) makes necessary calculations, based on the speed & distance of both vehicles. The computers understand that one of cars must drive off the brigde, otherwise everybody will be dead. They must make a decision - is it your car that will fall down, killing you? Or the bus should be sacrificed? The... more »

2013-05-15 10:35:24 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

:-) 

Thanks to +Sebastian Maliszczak and +Dominik Węgrzyn 

2013-05-13 11:15:35 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

A +Google building was hacked. Who-hoo, who'd think of that... :-/

Which reminds me that #Cloud in general is not so secure as perceived. At least not much more secure, than a well-protected personal PC, with a decent, commercial antivirus and firewall.

For example earlier this year I received an email from Evernote at 3:00 AM CET... They wrote "Dear Customer [...] [bla bla bla], we think your password was compromised. We are not sure if your data was accessed too, since the passwords are hashed. But we urge you to update your password and make an update of your Evernote software..". And so on. Over the next 1 or 2 days my Evernote was updating like crazy, up to the point when I dropped this software and disabled online synchronization with Evernote servers. I had too much sensitive data stored in my notes there. But luckily no passwords.

And yes, I droppedm... more »

2013-05-06 15:01:59 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Another great classic from Great Lake Swimmers. And they are based in Canada. So what? Hmm... nothing... :-)

Of course #GreatLakeSwimmers  listened to via +Radio Paradise 

2013-05-04 18:43:36 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

#Streetart  in #Brussels . My tram passes thru the (rather expensive) area of Louise / Stephanie every day, but I wonder how many people travelling with me notice the #graffiti  on the roof. And what it really depicts... akhem...

2013-05-03 21:15:24 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

A real  #greencar  understood literally. I checked - the flowers are fixed to the rear shelf and someone apparently cares for them. +TOYOTA should make a special model for such users, e.g. with a water installation.

I wonder if these little plants obstruct rear vision... :-)

2013-05-02 09:56:18 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 1 +1s)

If plain, old-school attacks on Apache-based Web sites were not enough, a new generation of malware is coming. This time nothing will be visible in the logs. And restarting the server or the machine overnight (a natural reaction for many admins) will actually erase the evidence - since the malicious software installs itself in memory.

Our work as self-made admins is getting more & more difficult every day... See full article from +Ars Technica blog below:

2013-05-01 17:03:14 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2013-04-28 10:34:01 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

The sights & sounds of (almost) space!

2013-04-15 07:21:04 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

The anniversary of Warsaw's Ghetto Uprising of 1943 tinyurl.com/253bvg is approaching. It was one of 2 tragical uprisings in our capital city's history, the other one being the (much larger) Warsaw's Uprising of 1944 tinyurl.com/cmk4qj8

For some reason the Ghetto Uprising is more rememebered around the world, maybe because it was better documented (i.e. photographed). In 1944, during Warsaw's main Uprising, not many photographers were left alive...

In 1943 the total toll was 56.000 civilian people dead, or transported to Concentration Camps. The whole Ghetto district (today's district of Muranów tinyurl.com/chfurfr) was reduced to ashes. In 1944 the number of casualties reached 250.000 and the whole city was wiped-out of the map...

The name of contemporary Muranów area is said to be based on Italian island of Murano. However for me it will always remindt... more »

2013-04-14 13:48:10 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Some time ago I posted here tinyurl.com/bqrf6xq our plans to go to the Siliesian #Planetarium , in the city of Chorzów, in Poland. Despite extremely low temperatures in the end of March (minus 15 to minus 10 degrees Celsius), unusual for this time of year, we finally travelled there with kids on 23 March. Here is some small photo-relation from that trip. Look at the individual photo descriptions for more details about what we saw. You will also see my kids, who have become real #Astronomy  fans! :-)

The Planetarium itself is in a center of a huge #Park , that measures a few kilometers across and contains lot of attractions for kids. It is called Silesia Park tinyurl.com/ck9373p. It was formerly called Regional Park of Culture and Leisure (WPKiW), but this name was coming from the Communism times and was not really fitting the 21st century :-)

The Planetarium building is noto... more »

2013-04-14 11:50:37 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

For a few weeks now I'm in Brussels again, on a business trip... well, not really a business trip. My older colleague from Network Operations room decided to take a 3-week holiday (again). Someone needed to care for our 1000+ customers and it had to be me (again too).

It is of course impossible to do it via teleworking from my home in Poland, as I normally do. This time I had to be in place, in case a server was down, a customer needed to be visited, etc. So my company arranged a cheap hotel in Brussel's Scharbeek district and so I am here, for 3 weeks, working 12-14h per day.

The hotel costs 50 EUR / night, which, compared to Polish prices is not so cheap. But here in Belgium it is a bargain. You cannot really find a cheaper option. And so is the quality of the hotel - it is old, dirty and the breakfasts (the only food served here) are really awful. There is only a choice of 1... more »

2013-03-14 08:54:24 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

We are going with #kids  to the oldest & biggest #planetarium  in Poland, the Silesian Planetarium. There is a show on 11:00 CET on Sunday 17 March, called "A comet over a Swiss valley" :-) Never mind the title, it seems to be a nice one - an interactive travel on a space ship, to the inner (Mars) & outer (Jupiter) planets, and then towards an ice comet. All displayed on a giant bubble screen, for no less than 400 people.

it is not 3D, but who cares. Great  #kidsactivities  do not need to be 3D all the time! Plus, it is the #InternationalDayOfPlanetaria , which is celebrated every year since 1995 tinyurl.com/6uzhhg2. It happens on a selected Sunday, closest to the spring's Equinox Day tinyurl.com/casz4m9

By coincidence, it is also the #InternationalAstrologyDay , but I prefer #Astronomy  over #Astrology  :-)

2013-02-16 07:15:59 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Happened a few days ago just in front of my appartment's parking lot. Pieces of solid ice, some of them as large as a computer printer, have fallen from a wall 6+ meters above, straight onto the footpath. Most importantly they damaged the garage gate, making it impossible to drive out.

This could not only destroy a car coming out of the garage (in fact it was triggered by a car), but could kill an entire family. Looking at the weight of the pieces, I think it could do both these things at the same time.

Two common problems of this country are visible here: first, no-one reall clears the roofs and walls from snow and ice, until something bad happens. Even when the extremely low administrative penalty (50 USD) forces house owner to finally clean the snow, they do it inproperly, or not professionally. Then, if something bad happens, it is the fault of the person that was... more »

2013-01-18 16:17:33 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Melted #battery of Boeing #Dreamliner . Wow, just wow.... Are they aware that even a lightest, smallest fire onboard the plane is possibly lethal? Was Swissair flight 111 tinyurl.com/37szgx or SAA flight 295 tinyurl.com/7a647az not enough?

And yes, Li-Ion batteries are dangerous and can explode when exposed to open air. Even in a damn laptop

2013-01-16 21:48:50 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Seen today in my local supermarket. Ibuprom (aka Ibuprofen) and Ballantines whisky. An unorthodox (and possibly lethal) mix...

2013-01-09 20:51:29 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Appreciation Circle! Bustin at the seams.

Totally #AWESOME group of people in this circle. #Active #users , they all got in this circle by plus 1'ing, sharing, and or commenting on one of my posts. I took a look through the circle stream, and again, #great posts. Defiantly another circle worth adding and sharing with your friends. Don't miss out on my #best #friends   here on G+.

#sharedcircles #sharedpubliccircles #sharedcircleoftheday #sharepubliccircle #circleshare #circlesharing #circles #circleoftheday
#topcircles #maximpact #experimental #experience #exposure #plus #googleplus #activeusers #bestsharedcircle #mastermind #masterclass #oh #and #hashtagspam #got #to #put #that #in #there #lol  

2013-01-05 19:05:51 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

An interactive New Year's resolutions map, from +Google  #Zeitgeist . Love is Number 1 pretty much... everywhere. Even on Labrador peninsula :)

http://www.google.com/zeitgeist/2012/resolutions

Via +CNET at tinyurl.com/bzctfs2

2013-01-05 16:27:21 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Another song that sends shivers along my spine. Maybe because it reminds me my childhood so much? Or maybe because it's #PeterGabriel 's #music . And ah, of course, it's on +Radio Paradise 

2013-01-04 23:38:44 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

I'm increasingly happy with the +ASUS SL101 Slider #Android #tablet , that I bought for my kids. Not only it was a bargain (you can get it as cheap as 250 EUR here), but it outperforms laptops or netbooks in many ways.

First, it has a decent video card (Nvidia Tegra). As far as I can see it gives outstanding performance in 2D and in 3D games. We play several 2D (e.g. World of Goo) and 3D titles with my kids and it is not lacking performance, despite the quiet high screen resolution. Needless to say it outperforms my mid-2000's laptop.

It has a HDMI output and an USB port. I can connect it to my Cineos TV, but I still have to test if Android will support any game pad connected via USB :-) If it works, I will not need to buy XBox or PS3, as we will have a true game console - all in 1 :-)

Kids the age of my daughter still have laptops, or even desktop PCs. Honestly... more »

2012-12-08 10:18:29 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

Photos of my daughter learning to ride horses, in a stable nearby. Also some photos from the "Hubertus" race (or "Saint Hubert challenge") for kids and teenagers, organized every year in November in stables across the country.

We are still cautious about this whole #horseriding , as accidents happen (and indeed she already fell once from her horse). But from the other side it is said that 1 million people in our country already practice amateur horseriding... Her friends too... So why not...

It is by the way surprising to see a horse stable in the middle of a populated city, within a dense residential quarter. It is hard to reserve a place for a footwalk, or a parking. Yet there is this a 50 acre forest, lake & stable in the middle of it. Surprizing as for "orthodox capitalist" Poland... :-)

2012-12-02 13:41:52 (26 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

Yesterday I met with my friends at a club. We were 7 or 8 people, good pals from ancient times. A lawyer, a tour operator, a photographer, a mobile network board member. And their wifes: a chemist, a reporter, a tour operator too ;-) They are all pretty active on social networks. Mainly on one: the FaceBook.

Yep, I was the only one to still use +Google+. Some of them even stayed on Google+ for some time. But then left, frustrated by lack of any interaction, closing their accounts in the process. They laughed at me how can I use a network that "nobody uses" and still post & share my photos or movies, if they're "not read" - by them, or by anyone else.

I think I've chosen a wrong social network for this country. There are myriads of people on FaceBook here. Politicians, reporters and ordinary people. The same for +Twitter- it is used daily by millions of... more »

2012-12-02 13:24:27 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

For 2nd straight week I'm trying to buy ASUS Eee Pad Slider, or model SL101 as it is called in some markets. It is vanishing, like a ghost. Not found in local shops, in domestic e-shops, or abroad. Even on eBay there are... 4 units, including 3 from the US.

www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Pad/Eee_Pad_Slider_SL101/

This Monday I spotted an online shop in Warsaw, that was selling Sliders for bargain 290$ (compared to regular price of 450$). But when I called them happily, asking for two 32GB units for my kids, one brown & one white (not my kids-the Eee Pads of course), they told me they sold out 20 pieces in half a day and run out of stock of SL101. No wonder, given the price..

I trust ASUS from the times of the excellent Eee PC 101 Win 7 netbook I once bought for my wife. It was used heavily, yet survived all other laptops in our household, while costing 280$ 2 years ago. In... more »

2012-11-26 02:55:24 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

Who can help me make +Taylor Swift aware of this little girl's wish?

Can we get #TaylorSwift  trending so her publicists can't help but tell her about it quickly? 

2012-11-19 22:46:45 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Boris Strugatsky, or as we would call him Strugacki, Russian #SciFi  author, has died today at the age of 79 tinyurl.com/kr8v2j. I will always remember his books, almost always written together with his brother, Arkadij. It was long before I embarked on the journey of Philip K. Dick or Arthur C. Clarke books, when I already knew novels such as the Roadside Picnic tinyurl.com/2dobyj. There was always something sad and chilling in their stories.

#RIP

2012-11-14 22:20:43 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 0 +1s)

#NeoRetros , a new band from #Poland . Ok, their #vocalist nicknamed Skyboy is from London. But he was born as half-German and half-Welsh, so what difference does it make.

Here is a list of other tracks from NeoRetros new album, "The Legend of Legends". I was listening to the #unplugged version of that and I was not bored for straight 2 hours. Yet I still cannot tell if it is #punk or #alternativerock :

Neo Retros - We're Glad That You Came
Neo Retros - Calling Out For More
Neo Retros - A Legend of a Legend
Neo Retros - The On The Fence Offence
Neo Retros - The Search for Sadness
Neo Retros - High-rise In The Sunshine Live Sopot (live in #Sopot )
Neo Retros - All That Remains

2012-11-11 22:09:37 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Maybe I've seen better commercials of #DasAuto , but just listen to the #DepecheMode  music :-)

2012-11-10 14:31:22 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Missed the Bell Labs Open Days 2012 in Ghent, Belgium? No worries! Read our coverage on Storify. Not as good as being there but close!

2012-11-10 14:29:03 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Missed the Bell Labs Open Days 2012 in Ghent, Belgium? No worries! Read our coverage on Storify. Not as good as being there but close!

2012-11-09 22:23:24 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

I artoo do. R2-D2 custom-designed sapphire and diamond engagement ring: http://j.mp/ZfrnVr <3

2012-11-09 22:19:23 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

O! To fajne! Muszę Zuzi pokazać, jak będę w domu. Lubimy razem pioruny oglądać! :)

Two men + two Tesla coils + special suits = ELECTRICITY FIGHT!!

2012-11-06 17:22:24 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2012-11-06 13:09:39 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Starting my journey into #Plan9 operating system from +Bell Labs, a new-generation UNIX. It is more & better than I initially thought. It is probably even more than you think, starting from the Fossil / Venti filesystem tinyurl.com/bwv5aaa

http://plan9.bell-labs.com/plan9/

So far I noted that they hold a large conference in Dublin on 14 November: (7e.iwp9.org). And that there's a lot of reading, numerous forums. And that the OS logo mascot, called Glenda tinyurl.com/h694o, reminds me of that stupid funny Raving Rabbitz video game :-)

I'm not sure, but probably I will give a try to the Inferno fork first (tinyurl.com/9uhno). Both of them can run on any hardware and as an application inside any other OS. However Inferno is so small that it can run on a  #NintendoDS gaming console, or in a Web browser window tinyurl.com/dxmk26e...

If I haveso... more »

2012-11-05 17:25:03 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

The Solar Ark in Japan. A #solarenergy power generation facility, but also a monument and a... #museum .

#Japan never stops to amaze me...

2012-11-02 17:58:22 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

+RBLWatch, a new online product by my friends from +i-Logs SPRL, was just released. It is an easy to use online #security management system to alert you where & why your IP was a subject of #blacklisting :

http://www.rblwatch.eu 

By monitoring your #IP addresses against the most popular and commonly used #DNS #blacklist sets, it may prove to be very useful for maintaining #Email servers,  #EmailMarketing platforms during #marketing campaigns, or  #eCommerce applications & the like.

Free, trial accounts with limited capabilities are of course provided by i-Logs, the Affordable Geeks (tm) from Brussels :-)

2012-10-21 09:49:28 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

A flagship of Argentinian Navy, the training ship "La Libertad" was seized in African port by an US court order. It was done to secure at least a part of a 320 mln USD unpaid debt, taken by Argentina in the 1990's. The ship was built in 1953 and is an icon of Argentinian naval forces.

It seems ridiculous. But in the meantime, more details here: tinyurl.com/8he5tko

Photos (c) Foto AP/Michael A. Mariant

2012-10-20 22:55:58 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

History of CompuServe's Graphics Interchange Format, better known as Great Internet Fun. Shortly, a GIF. Yes, that includes animated GIFs too :-)

mashable.com/2012/10/19/animated-gif-history

A +Mashable article found via +Jean Bezivin. See also tinyurl.com/2p6y2g

2012-10-21 20:51:46 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

The World's Thinnest House has just been finished today. It was built in a 1.5 meter vacant space between 2 buildings: a pre-WWII appartment house at Żelazna 74 and a modern, Le Corbusier-style block at Chłodna 22. This is a special place in #Warsaw as it was a border between 2 parts of Jewish Ghetto, crossed by Chłodna street. That street was defined as "Arian" (non-Jewish) by the Nazi German occupants. A small pedestrian bridge was built in this very place by the Nazis, but of course demolished shortly after the War.

It was designed by Polish #architect Jakub Szczęsny for Israeli writer Edgar Keret. Hence the popular name of the house, the Keret's House. His mother was born in Warsaw, where she lived with her parents until WWII. During the war she was relocated by the Nazi's to the Warsaw's Ghetto, from which she escaped with the help of her formernan... more »

2012-10-20 13:32:20 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

The World's Most Skewed House was built several years ago in Polish sea resort city of #Sopot . However year after year Krzywy Domek (as it is called here) is becoming more and more popular for weddings, company events and ... simply as a tourist attraction of this beautiful city.

krzywydomek.info/guide-to-krzywy-domek/virtual-tour.html

Photo (c) krzywydomek(at)krzywydomek(dot)info

2012-10-18 00:14:42 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

I've just bought a #BlackBerry Curve 8320 for myself. Silver one, although I planned for a burgundy colour tinyurl.com/d59wvsv. Brand new. Yes, it is a 5-year old model and yes I'm old school in a 320x240 pixel sort of way.

There were 2 reasons: I loved my previous corporate BlackBerry, with its damn 1-week battery standby time, that outbeats the silly 12 hour battery in my wife's iPhone. And the damn ergonomy of the tactile keyboard or the simple Jog-dial wheel. I'm sort of a #RIM patriot, you know, wanting to save that company with all their QNX innovations and so on...tinyurl.com/blc2s

The second simple reason is that it costed 115 USD (I pay no VAT), unlocked, brand new. It is less than the all-faulty Nokia fold I bought for my mum...

2012-10-17 23:43:42 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

FUNtastic!

2012-10-16 20:12:00 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Fully. Interactive. Radio. I needed that today. *Tip: * Use the slider to mix genres, according to your mood: RAGE <--> CHILL

Thanks to +Stanisław Soluch

2012-09-29 17:19:46 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

It's a busy day at the #SketchUp booth in Zone D; we're having a blast playing around with rapid proto-typed designs in MakerBot -- come join us! #MakerFaire   #NYC  

2012-09-29 17:13:01 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

French group Air, with their album Moon Safari. A lot of memories return. And don't laugh from another song's title Air - Sexy Boy also from that album. If you laugh, it means you haven't heard it - it's quiet good.

Actually when listening to the "Lost in Translation" soundtrack song Air - Alone In Kyoto (same album too), tears are allowed :-)

Inspired by post from +Krzysztof Blaszke today...

2012-09-22 20:34:20 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 4 +1s)

Buahaha... that's good, really. Note the inbuilt panoramic function at 1m:05s :-)

2012-09-22 12:41:06 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

The river Vistula tinyurl.com/3u9va9, which flows over 1000 km through my country, is unusually dry in September. There is almost no water. In Warsaw, out capital city, it reached an absolute minimum of 50 centimeters... And guess what - items from 17th century occupation of Warsaw by the Swedish Army were revealed on he river bottom. They were laying just like that: a stone fountain, sculptures, marble floor panels and tens of artillery items.

During the Deluge period in 17th century, the Poland Republic was invaded several times tinyurl.com/d4ur5pt. Just as Nazi Germans 300 years after, they were stealing just everything, even wooden flooring panels and burned everything else (houses, women & children) that they couldn't move with them. The collected items were packed onto small boats, then sailed 300 km over Vistula River to Gdansk, and then thru the Baltic sea back to Sweden. Some of... more »

2012-09-15 16:54:07 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Once again I'm in Belgium, in Brussels, this time for at least 1 month. I feel mint to this city. I love this place even more than my home city of Krakow. The funny street ads on the streets, which always use irreplaceable Belgian, abstract humour, can compete with the ones you'll see in the UK. The most funny one I saw last days was from a local newspaper: "Our social network is older than ancient Greeks". And yes man, they dare to have a big, yellow "Like it!" thumbs-up hand on this street sign. They are (positively) crazy, so they dare!

There is a mix of cultures too, and you feel it's a true Alpha category world city (tinyurl.com/8qvuy2n). The cosmopolitan character is felt even more than in London (Alpha++ city by itself), because sometimes it is really hard to meet a natively Belgian person - from city shops to IT companies.

You know, to judge the... more »

2012-09-15 13:45:49 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

Wow, we're discussing here on Google+ about 3 maybe 4 new models of Android tablets by big manufacturers. And then Bam!, I saw this nice, paper catalog from Asian manufacturer of tablets called Everbrilliant. And inside you have... something like 100 models...!

Man, that's one-hundred-tablets, every one of them with different CPU, screen size, multitouch options and buttons. They do OEM manufacturing too, so I guess many "badge-engineered" cheaper tablets we see on the market, come from companies like that.

2012-09-04 12:36:57 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Another trip to the Tatra mountains, this time into the highest range. Weather was supposed to be fine on Sunday, but a storm is building up.

High there is a mountain border post, on a pass just below the highest peak tinyurl.com/c3rx3b. It was used during the war to smuggle people, then during Communism times to smuggle Western books and Eastern poetry. Now it's used to smuggle unprepared tourists to the Slovak Republic. Every week a Mountain Rescue Service uses their PZL Falcon helicopter tinyurl.com/ccafnkt to bring down a woman in high heels, or a man in T-shirt, catched by a snow storm on 2500 meters...

2012-09-08 16:19:03 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Wow! What happened to Google+ mobile?! I mean I see a positive change, but it was only 1 day since I last checked with my +Opera Mini and a lot of things are different. New graphics, more buttons and statistics. Nice!