Patrice's Blog

True Knowledge: A Query Engine!

2007-11-09T15:55:00.000+01:00

This looks to good to be true, True Knowledge looks like a search engine (Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft Live, etc.), but instead of looking for matching keywords giving you thousands of irrelevant document references, it just answers your question!

Please watch their demo video. It should rapidly give you a good overview of True Knowledge technology.

What do you think?

Belgian Antartic Research Station

2007-09-05T08:48:00.000+02:00

The first zero emission research station

110 years after the Belgica expedition, the International Polar Year 2007-2008 provides a unique opportunity for humanity. Once again, Belgium has set itself high goals. The Belgian Federal Government has commissioned the International Polar Foundation, founded by Alain Hubert and Professors André Berger (UCL) and Hugo Decleir (VUB), to build a new research station, the "Princess Elisabeth" Station, to be constructed during the austral summer 2007-2008.

Acting as a technological showcase and a launch pad for wider understanding of climate mechanisms, the "Princess Elisabeth" station will give unprecedented visibility to Belgium's commitment - and that of its people and businesses - to meeting the climate challenge.

Google Solar Panel Project

2007-06-20T14:30:00.000+02:00

In the last 24 hours, Google produced 9,900 kilowatt-hours of electricity from the sun.

Google has installed over 90% of the 9,212 solar panels that comprise the 1,600 kilowatt project. Panels cover the rooftops of eight buildings and two newly constructed solar carports at the Googleplex. This installation is projected to produce enough electricity for approximately 1,000 California homes or 30% of Google's peak electricity demand in our solar powered buildings at our Mountain View, CA headquarters.

Google provide a status page to monitor and share the day to day production of clean, renewable energy from our very own rooftops. Keep checking in to see how they're doing.

Fantastic: Microsoft Photosynth

2007-06-15T16:11:00.000+02:00

When was the last time you've got excited by a Microsoft application? Maybe you will say "today" after watching the video below...

Microsoft Photosynth takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and then displays the photos in a reconstructed three-dimensional space, showing you how each one relates to the next.

Watch the short video below to see some of the amazing ways technology will change the way you interact with your images in the future. Firstly, it presents Seadragon, which is another incubation project about navigating through visual information with a speed independent of the size or number of objects. Then, it will show the fantastic Microsoft Photosynth...

How did you find it?

Microsoft Surface

2007-05-30T12:45:00.000+02:00

Finally, something really new in the User Interface field from Microsoft. Microsoft Surface represents a fundamental change in the way we interact with digital content. With Surface, we can actually grab data with our hands and move information between objects with natural gestures and touch. Surface features a 30-inch tabletop display whose unique abilities allow for several people to work independently or simultaneously. All without a mouse or a keyboard.

Multi-user interactions on a graphical display surface was not new to me, see for instance the Multi-Touch Interaction Research, but here, we are talking about a consumer product which should hit the market in Winter 2007, I am curious about the price they will ask...

Google Hot Trends

2007-05-23T08:53:00.000+02:00

For more than six years, Google have compiled a regular list of popular searches called the Google Zeitgeist. This has been a way to highlight the sorts of queries people type into the Google search box every day. In October 2006, Google Trends was kicked off at Google Labs to show the popularity of search terms in relation to each other overtime, and how different cities or regions may care (or not) about the trends.

Google now introduce a new toy they are calling Google Hot Trends. It's a new feature of Google Trends for sharing the the hottest current searches with us in very close to real time. What's on our collective mind as we search for information? What's interesting to people right now? Hot Trends will tell you. At a glance, you'll see the huge variety of topics capturing our attention, from current events to daily crossword puzzle clues to the latest celebrity gossip. Google Hot Trends is updated throughout the day, so check back often.

How did I start blogging?

2007-03-01T13:45:00.001+01:00

I remember that, during summer 2006, I was extremely impressed by the incredible story of this college student who earns $1,000,000 online in just a few months with a very simple (but clever) idea: have a look at The Million Dollar Homepage to get the details. Then, I started to google the "money" keyword, and after some filtering I read the post/article How to Make Money From Your Blog on the Steve Pavlina Blog. This story (and many others I found afterwards) was confirmed by the Washington Post article A New Model For Getting Rich Online, which explains (and gives examples of) how people can now (comfortably) live only from the money generated by advertising on their blogs.

Blend your Google Ads

2007-02-07T09:08:00.000+01:00

In the Google AdSense Help Center, the article What color palettes are the most successful? recommends to blend your ads, it means that you should make the background (google_color_bg) and borders (google_color_border) of your ads the same color as the background of your page where the ad is placed. Then, In addition to that, I would also recommend that you make the title (google_color_link) and the URL (google_color_url) of your ads the same color as the hyperlink of your page where the ads are placed. And finally, I would apply the same rule for the color of the text (google_color_text).

What is Google AdSense?

2007-02-06T08:36:00.000+01:00

Google AdSense is a fast and easy way for website publishers of all sizes to display relevant Google ads on their website's content pages and earn money. My application to Google AdSense has been approved in June 2006, and since then, I have launched dozens of blogs (including this one) without any success in making money(*) :-( The point that directly convinced me to apply to Google AdSense (which is, by the way, the point why I did not apply to alternatives) is the payment channel of Google AdSense, they can transfer the money directly to my national bank account, I hope it will happen soon ;-)

(*) You are not alone!

How To Avoid Traffic Jam on the Brussels Ring Highway?

2007-01-04T21:29:00.000+01:00

Of course, the title is a little bit too presumptuous. I just wanted to share with you this page, from the Flanders Traffic Control Centre, on which you can see several camera view of selected spots of the Brussels Ring Highway. I always try not to leave the office before having a look at it. Unfortunately, the URLs of these images are changed regularly, so it is difficult to re-use them on your own web site. This is not really Web 2.0 compliant :-(

For those of you who do not know the Brussels Ring Highway, I have found the video below using Goggle Earth. You will see how long it can be for me to go back home :-/

Traffic Jam - More free videos are here

The Google Maps Flight Simulator

2006-09-13T09:21:00.000+02:00

I enjoyed this "nice" application of Google Maps. You can have a try at http://www.isoma.net/games/goggles.html.

I was also nice to be able to select the start location of the simulation. As warned, it was a little bit "techy", but not too difficult. Anyway, it would have been nice to have the possibility to simply enter latitude and longitude to start from where you want... Have a nice flight ;-)

How good are you parking a Peugeot?

2006-09-05T16:40:00.000+02:00

Please have a try at http://www.107.peugeot.co.uk/peugeot.swf.

I am back driving on the E40 near Brussels

2006-08-23T14:19:00.000+02:00

Again, on my way to work, but this time I have played a little bit with Movie Maker ;-)

Driving in Sint-Genesius-Rode near Brussels

2006-08-18T09:55:00.000+02:00

On my way back home, driving in Sint-Genesius-Rode near Brussels...

Driving on the Boulevard Général Jacques in Brussels

2006-08-17T09:24:00.000+02:00

On my way to work...

Driving on the E40 near Brussels

2006-08-16T09:52:00.000+02:00

On my way to work...

Entering into the garage...

2006-08-11T09:28:00.000+02:00

Do you trust sensors (and the software interpreting their information) of automatic gate? I did ;-)

Driving in Diegem near Brussels

2006-08-10T09:12:00.000+02:00

On my way to the office...

Driving on the Ring of Brussels

2006-08-09T09:28:00.000+02:00

The traffic was not so bad this morning ;-)

Hello World! (2nd edition)

2006-08-08T13:39:00.000+02:00

Today, I have created a vlog.

Hello World!

2006-06-22T22:50:00.000+02:00

Today, I have created a blog.