Scientific Google

Once again, Google lives up to its image as a company of bright minded people (a.k.a. geniuses, nerds and geeks).

Google search has long featured a built-in calculator function in its search engine but in one awesome update the Mountain View, California company has added a fully functional 34-button scientific calculator in its search page, mapped with all the mathematical functions the left brain won’t be able to handle alone.

You can now ask Google “what is sin (pi over 6) plus 5 to the 5th power divided by 25 minus 1/2 of ln(e)” and it will give out the correct answer in less time it takes to punch the keys on a real calculator. 

Try it now!

To top it up, this new calculator works in mobile browsers and desktop voice search, too!  You can now dictate your formulas to your computer and it will give you the results you want, not unlike Lieutenant Commander Scotty when he unsuccessfully attempted to talk to a 1990s computer in Star Trek IV.

Google. They’re really awesome.

If you’re perplexed with creating formulas using Google Calculator, just check out this Cheat Sheet.

There really isn’t any excuse for not being able to finish your math homework now.

~Florent Flora

Let the Games Begin!

Today is the day! 

One world, one big sports event.

No riots, no wars, just one world united in celebrating man's greatest achievements through sports - the 2012 Summer Olympics or commonly known as London 2012.

In the picture: With the Tower Bridge in the background, the Olympic torch is carried proudly by torch bearer Amber Charles on a floating pontoon along the River Thames. Amber Charles is a 22-year-old basketball player who played a key role in London's winning bid. (Photo credit: Reuters)

To date, the identity of the person who will take on the honor of the lighting of the cauldron during the opening ceremony remains a mystery. Will it be David Beckham doing the honors? Or will it be Sir Roger Bannister, the man who first broke the 1-mile four minute barrier?

The opening ceremony will start at 9:00PM UK time (or 4:00AM Manila time). Here are some links where you can watch the Olympics online:

BBC

London 2012 Official YouTube Channel

IOC Official YouTube Channel

NBC Channel (available in the US and US territories only)

~Florent Flora

Live Another Day

          I used to pride myself with my ability to use my text away on my cellphone while driving -- left hand on the steering wheel and right hand on the phone, my thumb having memorized the keypad and my eyes swiftly alternating between the road and the small cellphone screen to check on the message I have typed.  Sometimes I even take pictures with my cellphone camera while driving:

          Countless studies have been made trying to establish a link between cellphone use and cancer or brain tumor and yet, the real hazard of cellphones is that they kill far more people through automobile accidents. European researchers — in a study of more than 300,000 cellphones users — concluded that there was no evidence to suggest that using a cell phone increased the chance of developing a brain tumor. That was true even for people who had used cell phones for more than a decade, and the study is the biggest so far to look at cell phone radiation and cancer.

          On the other hand, a study by Monash University Accident Research Centre concludes that drivers who use hand-held devices are 4 times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. The US Department of Transportation also states that 3092 people were killed in crashes involving a distracted driver and an estimated additional 416,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver in 2010.

          I love math.

          And I believe in statistics.

          So heed my advice: Stay focused while driving.

          As for me, I will not allow the phone to distract me while driving.

          Leave the phone and live the day.

~Florent Flora

Tetherless

          There will soon come a day when people will come to work bringing with them just one pocket device that will contain their work, emails, portfolio, data, phone and all other stuff they need, dock it with a DLNA enabled 24" LED monitor and a wireless mouse and keyboard, and they're primed up to start working immediately. There will be no bulky laptops to lug around and no bulky computers to hog their table real estate. And when they need to "go mobile" they'll just get up, undock their device and off they go.

          What more? That device can morph into a laptop, a tablet, and of course a mobile phone!  Lose the device? No problem, all their data is backed up in the cloud.

          This rise in mobile computing and cloud based computing is here and now. Technology is now available to make this a reality. Motorola Webtop and Ubuntu for Android are leading the way into this device convergence and this is already happening.

          Who wants to be tethered to a desk in the 21st Century? I don't.

(Credit: Canonical)

~Florent Flora

Netbooks and Photos

      Just recently, I bought an ASUS X101h netbook for my wife's salon's photobooth setup.

      The photobooth setup had a tight budget and my CBA indicated that a netbook would do the trick neatly. No fancy laptop with an über processor is needed here. The netbook's Atom N455 processor will accomplish things smoothly without any hiccups.

      So there was me at the mall shopping for a netbook when all the others were gawking and trying out their hands on the latest iPads and Android tablets. I would have died right there and then if someone I knew saw me buying a netbook! I bought the netbook pronto. No demos. No setups. Just give me the box, ma'am, and off I'll go.

      So I've got a few toys to play around with... the Asus X101h, a Canon 1100D DSLR, a canon Selphy CP800 photo printer, and three Speedlight flashes from Photozuela -- brand new budget items for a startup photobooth.

      A few tinkering here and there with Av, Tv and zoom settings of the Canon 1100D and placing the speedlights in strategic places in the salon and here it is... my photobooth pic courtesy of Peppermint Kids and Grownups Hair and Nail Salon!

PS: Do "Like" our salon FB page!

PPS: And why not drop by when you can? :-)

 

I See You!

Surveillance activities are supposed to be covert.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Philippines’ local equivalent of the US FBI, seems to like to announce their presence in the neighborhood.  Their Van #8 has a wireless access point that is announcing to everyone that they are here.

But I’m watching them, too.

Hello, NBI!  I see you!

~Florent Flora

Goal Setting and Challenges

The moment you set a goal, obstacles will begin to appear to stand in your way.

The bigger the goal, the bigger the obstacles.

Most people let these challenges rob them of victory.

The key here is PERSISTENCE.

Persist and you will succeed!

~Florent Flora

Math for Creative Engineers

Only engineers with creative imaginations can come up with solutions such as these… 

Wait, wait!  Make that wild imagination, or rather, hallucination J

1. Simplify the equation…

2. Find the answer…

3. Expand the equation…

4. Here’s my favorite – Find “x”

~Florent Flora

Skirts and Daugthers

Conversation between father and 4-yr old daughter (translated from Tagalog):

Bettina: Daddy, I want to wear mini skirt.

Me: No.

Bettina: I want to wear mini skirt, it has cute designs on it.

Me: No, wear short pants, it's better.

Bettina: No.

Me: No mini skirt.

Bettina: No. Mini skirt!

(Argument between dad and daughter goes on for five minutes or so. Mommy comes to the rescue and selects a more appropriate attire for the daughter.)

Whew!

I now dread the day ten years later when me and Bettina will get into the same argument again.

Mommy to the rescue, please? :-)

~Florent Flora

Answers to Prayers

It has been said God has three possible answers to our prayers:

YES!

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7)

NOT YET.

"Be still and know that I am God..." (Psalm 46:10)

I HAVE SOMETHING BETTER...

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)

      As a child, remember that you could almost ask anything from your parents and they would do their best to grant your request?  We can have this same confidence when we approach God, our Father, with our prayers: "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us -- whatever we ask -- we know that we have what we asked of Him." (1 John 5:14)

      Charles Stanley, senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Atlanta and founder of In Touch Ministries, discusses more about this in "The Key to Answered Prayer"

      Whatever God's answer is to our prayers, underlying each and every answer is the silent promise, “I am here.”  Our Heavenly Father enjoys giving to us because He loves us and wants us to experience intimacy with Him — the best gift we can ever have.

~Florent Flora

-----
Sharing time: Pastor Joby Soriano from Christ's Commission Fellowship testifies of God's extreme faithfulness in his life and tells of his touching story on how God answered his prayer in this video:

Experience Intimacy With God by Pastor Joby Soriano, February 12, 2012