Prof-UIS samples (MFC/Visual C++ samples) for MDI, SDI and dialog-based applications

http://www.prof-uis.com/samples.aspx?google=samples&adtype=1

The following samples (MFC/Visual C++ samples) illustrate the most significant features of the Prof-UIS library. In each sample there is implemented dynamic switching between standard GUI themes provided by Prof-UIS, which are Office 2000/XP/2003, and Visual Studio 2005. The ThemeColorizer application includes a set of predefined themes (Luna Blue, Luna Olive, Visual Studio 2005 and more) and also allows you to create the theme that most closely matches your tastes.
The sample binaries packed in zip-files can be downloaded from the current page. Their source code is freely available?please download Prof-UIS Freeware or Prof-UIS Trial from the Download section.

Изобретён неуловимый радар-невидимка

http://www.membrana.ru/lenta/index.html?6077

Аналогично локатор противника не уловит этот сигнал, так как образец шума, выдаваемого новым радаром, меняется постоянно, и техника воспринимает его как совершенно случайные микроскопические помехи в окружающем радиоволновом фоне.
Собственный приёмник радара ловит отражённый от объектов сигнал лишь потому, что в каждый момент времени знает какой образец шума искать. При этом сравнение получаемого сигнала, во всём спектре частот, с переменным образцом сигнала излучаемого происходит миллиард раз в секунду.

Машина имени трёх поросят разносит дома ураганным дыханием

http://www.membrana.ru/articles/technic/2006/06/27/171300.html

спроектировала и построила удивительную машину, способную имитировать воздействие на дом урагана 5-й категории без, собственно, скоростного потока воздуха.
Состоит эта установка из ста модулей, каждый из которых представляет собой нечто вроде гибрида пылесоса и аппарата на воздушной подушке.
Большой и мощный вентилятор, гигантские воздушные клапаны, способные мгновенно переключаться по команде электроники, большие гибкие трубы и эластичная резиновая юбка ? эти ингредиенты составляют один модуль, который подведут вплотную к стене или крыше дома на одном из рассчитанных участков. Модуль может создавать большое давление или, наоборот, разрежение. А 100 таких машин смогут точно воспроизвести общую чудовищную нагрузку на дом.
"То, что мы моделируем ? это не скорость ветра, это ? фактическая сила, с которой ветер воздействует на здание", ? пояснил идею "машины ураганов" один из её создателей ? Эрик Вилкинсон (Eric Wilkinson) из Cambridge Consultants.

Segway with a combustion engine

EN: Referring to original Building a Balancing Scooter article, the work of Dr. Trevor Blackwell also available as a review in Russian. Idea: power up balancing scooter from internal combustion engine instead of chemical batteries. Noise, exhaust and fun are guarantied together with drop in weight and running time.

RU: Ссылаясь на оригинальную статью Building a Balancing Scooter доктора Trevor Blackwell обзор которой так же доступен на Русском языке. Идея: использовать двигатель внутреннего сгорания вместо химического источника тока в качестве источника энергии для сбалансированного самоката. Шум, выхлоп и развлекуха гарантирована. Равно как и падение веса и пробега на одной зарядке

How to choose residential laundry machinery

Laundry rooms near living space: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/appliances/laundry-rooms-7-06/overview/0607_laundry-rooms_ov.htm

How to Choose a Washing Machine: http://www.ehow.com/how_16268_choose-washing-machine.html

Comparing the types of washing machines: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/appliances/washing-machines/reports/how-to-choose/index.htm

Washing machines important features: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/appliances/washing-machines/reports/features/important-features/index.htm

How to choose clothes dryer: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/appliances/clothes-dryers/reports/how-to-choose/index.htm

Clothes dryers important features: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/appliances/clothes-dryers/reports/features/important-features/index.htm


A guide to better laundry appliances: http://www.energexinstitute.com/home-connect/brochures/get-pdf.php?pdf=EQ5822_laundry

Lowes:
Guide to Buying a Clothes Washer: http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=BuyGuide/ChsWsh.html
How to Select a Dryer: http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=BuyGuide/ChsDry.html&rn=RightNavFiles/rightNavHowTo

Washing machine buying guide (Great Britain oriented but some items still applicable to US market. Has chapter about washer-dryer machines): http://www.muswell-hill.com/foxandco/pages/wmbuyingguide.htm

More to read:
http://www.johnlewis.com/guides/washmachine.aspx

Street merchants and Internet

RU: Надо представить на Интернете товары продаваемые уличными торговцами. Одна из причин это уникальность их товаров при недостаточной их рекламе. Значительно расширить контингент потенциальных покупателей можно за счет представления этих товаров на торговых площадках Интернета. Например, ebay.com. Особенно это важно для уличных торговцев книгами потому как у них встречаются старые уникальные издания, которые случайного прохожего вряд ли заинтересуют. А те, кого они заинтересовали бы, могут находиться далеко.

EN: Unique goods like books, antiques, or any other type of garbage sold by street merchants have to be represented on the Internet. Those goods are unique and hardly searchable outside of the Internet. Their uniqueness requires much better promotion then on-street showcase can provide. Online trading spots like ebay.com are best solution because they are cheap and popular. Online presence especially vital for unique booksellers since the probability to match that kind of books with random pedestrian is very low while potential buyer can be far away from point of sale.

Vector graphics on the web w/o images/flash/svg/vrml

Several ways to implement graphics on the web without using images/svg/flash/vrml: http://www.lifestation.com/dev/rounded.html

Explanation of Alessandro Fulciniti approach of creating graphics with block-level elements: http://sanzay-ideas.blogspot.com/2006/06/rounded-nifty-corners.html

Making choices in the visual user interface

Raw idea: In some particular scenarios list of items to choose from should be presented to user in the following order:
1) Manual selection from few easily-distinguishable items
2) Keyword search followed by manual selection from the search results
3) Categorized or parametrized browsing

There are should be feedback form/control unobtrusively located on each screen for the user to be able to leave question/feedback to content management team. It should improve the quality of information published.

This scenario may be suitable for resources with very limited area of interest like e-commerce or thematic resources.
Other scenarios may require different order of choices and/or different selection/navigation mechanisms like graph or 2D/3D shape browsers.

Rounded Nifty Corners

In reference to rounded Nifty Corners by Alessandro Fulciniti...
For some of us (including myself ;-) it worth explaining how it works so we could extend the same approach to vast variety of scenarios where graphics is required but images/svg/flash/vrml are not advisable.

The main idea of Alessandro's approach is to create graphical effects using set of rectangular (block-level) elements. Width and height of those elements are explicitly specified on the page so when the browser puts those blocks together they form some kind of closed shapes with solid fill.
As the example let us create a circle with block-alike elements. For the sake of simplicity the block element will be represented as the line of X-character.

   XXXXXX
 XXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXX
 XXXXXXXXXX
   XXXXXX

The idea of creating shape-rich graphics with the limited set of fixed elements is similar to ASCII Art and the rastering of images itself. The difference and the main advantage of Alessandro's approach is that shape created not from the one-pixel elements but with much more larger elements that obviously conserve the page's weight. This approach may be extended not only to UI decoration but also to charts, graphs, tree viewers, floor plan diagrams or whenever row-by-row or column-by-column rectangle-constructed structures will weight less than the equivalent image.

Information Navigators

Following are the information navigators intended to help user search, navigate and extract information from sources in structured graphical way. Some of them are web based, some of them graphical.

The Flamenco Search Interface Project

The Flamenco search interface framework has the primary design goal of allowing users to move through large information spaces in a flexible manner without feeling lost. A key property of the interface is the explicit exposure of category metadata, to guide the user toward possible choices, and to organize the results of keyword searches. The interface uses hierarchical faceted metadata in a manner that allows users to both refine and expand the current query, while maintaining a consistent representation of the collection's structure. This use of metadata is integrated with free-text search, allowing the user to follow links, then add search terms, then follow more links, without interrupting the interaction flow.

FLAMENCO stands for FLexible
information Access using MEtadata in Novel COmbinations.

Aduna AutoFocus

Aduna AutoFocus helps you to search and find information on your PC, network disks, mail boxes, websites and Aduna Metadata Server sources. It scans all places where you expect valuable information and provides powerful means for retrieving that information.

AutoFocus is based on Guided Exploration which gives you information with high precision.

Brain EKP (Enterprize Knowledge Platform)

Introducing the first-ever Enterprise Knowledge Platform, BrainEKP?, an easy-to-use system for organizing and sharing information. BrainEKP connects your people, processes, and information in a single interface so you can see and share your thinking.

Thinkmap

Thinkmap is designed to improve the ability of users to browse through complex information. It allows for interactive, dynamic filtering and the display of structured information without overwhelming the user or undermining the depth of the information resource.

In the Information Economy, the pressure to process information and highlight the significance of its meaning in an overall market or business context has never been more critical. We are inundated with increasing volumes of data through more and more channels, especially since the explosion of the Internet, emerging wireless and other digital technologies.

Fractal Maps were conceived and developed in response to the increasingly urgent need for better ways of visually analyzing, navigating and managing data typically held in databases but also higher-level hierarchies such as networks, intranets, information services and other corporate applications.