Google+ recently changed their profile image sizes and stuff. These guys released templates to help you adjust things as you see fit. It certainly helped us update our Google+ page!

Just the numbers: The smallest your new Google+ cover can be is 480×270 pixels, while the larges it can be is 2120×1192 pixels.

100% size template

70% size template

50% size template

25% size template

How to use these?

1. Download the Google+ cover photo template you’d like to use from the links above.
2. Open the file and insert your own photo using your favourite photo editing program.
3. Save it.
4. Upload the photo to your Google+ page as your cover photo.

And if all that sounds too confusing for you, try out the step-by-step to crop your cover photo.

Good luck! Let us know if you have any problems adjusting your image sizes. Us gay geeks are the best kind to help you: we’re geek smart and we’ve got a fabulous disposition.

[Google Plus Cover Photo]

So me and my friends were playing around with Siri and I asked “What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?” And then this happened:

A true OMG moment.

For those who don’t get it, educate your fool self!

- Starring Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, will.i.am, NBA All-star Chris Bosh, Jack Dorsey, Tony Hsieh, Drew Houston, Gabe Newell, Ruchi Sanghvi, Elena Silenok, Vanessa Hurst, and Hadi Partovi. Directed by Lesley Chilcott.

I would argue they’re today’s rockstars, for the mainstream population. Sure, most of us geeks know that coding isn’t half as hard as the average Joe thinks it is, but to the average Joe, like this video says, it’s like a coder is a wizard. I’ve always said I would definitely date someone who considered themselves a wizard. A coder who called himself a wizard? Yeah, I’m there.

I remember I took an Information Systems class in my final year of University – and I only took it because I knew I was going into Computational Physics in the next semester and had absolutely no clue as to how to code. It was eye-opening to be shown how a computer thinks – the logical steps it goes through when you give it commands. It’s in English words, but the syntax is completely different. Being a writer at heart, and studying creative writing at the same time, meant that it was the most intriguing thing in the world.

When I got on to Computational Physics, I got fully lost inside the coding world. I started ending Facebook statuses with semi-colons. I started taking longer to say things to people because I had to consciously rearrange the words. Towards the end though, I started to pull back out (I kinda had to…had other subjects for which I had to write essays!) and it started to settle into being a new language that I could turn on and off. Learning code is like learning a new language – they’re even called coding languages. But languages can be hard to maintain if you’re not speaking them all the time right? And who speaks these languages? Everything these days: your iPhone, your computer, your bedside speakers, your high-tech oven, your elevator. Everything is programmed and everything needed someone to write that program. It’s quite literally universal language.

And like most languages, they’re easier to learn when you’re younger. So if you are in school, then make a point of asking about coding classes. If they don’t have any in your school, maybe show your IT teachers this video, and they might just be spurred into starting something up.

But no matter what your age, no matter who you want to be, where you want to work, or how you want to go about your life – coding is a skill that will always come in useful. Even in the most basic things – like programming a macro in Microsoft Word or Excel to get it to automatically do a task you do everyday in the office. I did this for my boss once and she was floored.

It makes a difference. Go learn. It’s worth it.

[via Code.org]

I’m a little slow on the uptake but apparently there is going to be Titanic II in 2016. No, not a movie, but an ocean liner. Look at the 3D model.

Yup.

It is also modelled after the original in terms of design.

Someone just shoot me now.

I guess you will be glad to know that they aren’t sailing it through ice. It is sailing from Southhampton to New York. The project was announced in 2012 by Australian billionaire Clive Palmer. The construction starts this year and her maiden voyage is set for 2016. The Titanic II is a part of Palmer’s company (fleet?) called Blue Star Line. Have a look at their websites : Website 1 and Website 2. They are both pretty uh…basic.

I’m quite happy that Wikipedia put “Greater beam for enhanced stability” as their first point under the category “Comparison with the original Titanic“. This seems like a good thing to note, given what happened to the last one.

I don’t even know why you would do this. I guess if you fail you should try and try again, but I still think that you aren’t exactly creating an easy atmosphere for your passengers. Although there will be passengers dumb enough to embark on this because Titanic the movie was “nice”.

At the end of it all, I just have to say “WTF Australia?! Why would you even…?” and “I give up.” If you want to drown yourself, or name your boat after that catastrophe then fine. Just don’t come crying to me when you find out that it is a stupid idea.

{Source: Wikipedia}

Attention all Med, Bio and Path students! There is a new iPhone 4,4S and 5 app/photoadaptor that allows you to take pictures of what you see through optical instruments.

This app is called Magnifi and it can be used through binoculars, microscopes, telescopes and other things with an eye piece. Pretty neat, huh?

What you do is slide on the case and the adaptor then you begin taking photos.

However cool this maybe, what isnt so awesome is the price. It is $79.99 If you work for a company or an organisation in any of these fields, I guess you could always put it under company expenses xD

{Link Image 1} {Link Image 2} {Source: arcturuslabs.com}

I’m not sure if this is cool… or just plain creepy.

So the photo doesn’t look so bad right? Wait until you find out how it is powered! This benign looking lamp can only be used once, and it is powered by  drops of blood! The purpose of the lamp is to see just how much we need light and the energy we use/waste.

Ladies, I know what you are thinking, if we can start using blood to power things then we can probably stop global warming. It certainly gives ‘renewable’ energy a different spin!

There is a video you can view to see just how it works and the message behind it, but I must warn you it is pretty…. pretentious artsie… yeah.

To see the video go to Blood Lamp from miket on Vimeo.

{Image Credit Mike Thompson}