.::REALITYRECALL::.

The federal government is expected to double funds for the Own the Podium program when the federal budget is released on Thursday, from $11 million to $22 million, CBCSports.ca has learned on Wednesday.

A second domed stadium proposal has been made for Regina, this time by a First Nations group that wants to build a stadium, casino and hotel complex worth $1.2 billion.

John Herlihy, Google Europe’s big chief, says that desktops will be irrelevant in three years. Which is precisely why Apple and Google are trying to kill each other, fiercely fighting for the domination of the mobile device world.

Both companies know that mobile computing is where the action is now and where it will be forever. At its presentation, Steve Jobs was adamant that the iPad was the continuation of the battle that started with the iPhone, and repeatedly said that Apple was a “mobile devices company.” Google’s agreed, which is why Herlihy echoed Schmidt’s words at Barcelona’s GSM 2010: Everything that Google is doing and planning is centered on the mobile, the cloud, and ubiquitous connectivity.

They are both right: Your desktop computer will disappear, no matter how much the geekdom cries, unless you are an engineer or someone who requires a big screen to work on—and, even then, the idea of the desktop as we know it will change too. The mice will go extinct, and every John and Jane will do their work and their pleasure using mobile devices like phones and tablets. As it should be, because computing has to become invisible, not complicated and cumbersome, like it is today. In a few years, the computing world will be like Star Trek: The Next Generation, but without the Enterprise. [Silicon Republic]

The last-place Edmonton Oilers dealt veteran defenceman Steve Staios to Calgary on Wednesday for fellow blue-liner Aaron Johnson and a third-round draft pick.

Parliament will be asked to review the “original gender-neutral wording of the national anthem,” the throne speech says.

Charlie Sheen’s complicated life is about to get even more complicated. A woman who slept with Charlie and wife Brooke Mueller at the same time is about to come forward and tell her story.

GPS enabled smartphones make it easy to get directions, weather, and many more location based services since they automatically know where you are.  With Geosense, you can bring this functionality to any Windows 7 computer even if it doesn’t have a GPS chip.

Windows 7 introduced the new Sensors and Location platform that would let Windows automatically respond to environmental changes sensed by light, orientation sensors, or GPS chips.  This makes your computer more aware of its surroundings and change itself accordingly.  The location platform is especially interesting, as it brings the potential of automatic location based search and maps to your PC.  Unfortunately, most laptops today are not equipped with GPS chips.  Thanks to Geosense, however, you can still use the location platform.

Geosense uses IP lookup, WiFi and Cell tower triangulation, and more to find your location as accurately as possible.  Geosense lists itself as a sensor in the Windows Sensors and Locations, so once you’ve installed it, all location-aware applications and services will be able to pickup your location from it.  Please note that Geosense only works on Windows 7 Home Premium and higher, as Windows 7 Starter doesn’t include the Sensors and Locations platform.

Getting Started:

Geosense is a free download for Windows 7, with both 32 and 64 bit editions.  Choose the correct one for your computer, and install.

While installing, it will ask to install a device driver.  Simply press Install.  You may also see a UAC prompt, which you should accept as well.

When it is finished installing, you are ready to use Geosense.  First, lets make sure Geosense is enabled.  Enter “Location” in your Start Menu search, and select “Location and Other Sensors”.

Here you should see Geosense listed as a sensor.  If it is not enabled, click the check box beside it and click Apply.

You can see more information about Geosense if you click its name.  This page lets you change the description, choose which users can use this sensor, and uninstall it if you choose.

Using Geosense

There are few applications today that make use of the Location platform in Windows 7, but hopefully we will see more in the near future.  The weather desktop gadget, however, is location aware, so you can easily test out your Geosense location with it.  Once Geosense is installed, you will notice a grey logo beside your city’s name on the gadget that shows that a sensor is available.

Click on the gear to open the options pane.  Here you can now select “Find location automatically” and it will display the weather for the location detected by Geosense.

 

Now your gadget should show a blue icon beside the city name, showing that the location is coming from your location sensor.

Unfortunately, sometimes Geosense cannot detect your location. If so, you will either see an entirely incorrect city (Seattle, WA is the default city, and usually is “detected” if Geosense fails to detect your location), or will show a red icon showing that it cannot detect your correct location.

Location-aware Google Maps

Another location aware application is a Google Maps app available from the Geosense site (link below).  This will automatically open a Google map at your current location, so you can easily search for directions and nearby businesses.  This could be very useful at a hotspot in a new city, for instance.  Once again, though, if it cannot detect your location, it may simply show a default location or a generic Google maps.

Conclusion:

Geosense and the Windows 7 Location Platform gives you a great way to make your mobile computing experience even more interesting.  Geosense brings location awareness to a much broader audience than previously possible, so hopefully we’ll see some unique and innovative uses in the near future.  Until then, even the current location aware apps are fun to try!

Note: If you’re concerned about privacy while using the Location-Enabled Google Maps Client, check out Google’s privacy policy regarding the service.

Link:

Download Geosense for Windows 7 and the Location-Enabled Google Maps Client

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Olympic hockey’s fever pitch may be over, but the buzz over Team Canada’s victory remains.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper suggested Monday that the Vancouver Olympics have elevated Canada on the world stage like never before.

You can now feed your social media obsession even further by downloading a Facebook app onto your Zune HD. Heads up though, seems that you may need to update your Zune software first. [CrunchGear]

After Sony’s warning, the PlayStation Network seems to be back online and fully operational, according to reader Larry Gallant. Updated

I wanted to let you guys know that the phat PS3s are now able to login to the Playstation network and the clocks are working. I was able to login at 6:28 PM eastern time in the Boston, MA USA area.

No official word from Sony yet, however, so proceed with caution.

Update: Multiple readers are reporting that things are fixed, and they now can use their PS3s normally.

Have you been able to connect to the network? Tell us in the comments. [Thanks Larry]

Although disappointed that he was unable to lead Russia to a medal in Olympic hockey, Alex Ovechkin says Canada deserved to take home the gold.

One of the more straightforward acquisitions Google's made in a while, they've just bought the online image editor Picnick. Given Google's past acquisition strategy—turning Grand Central into Google Voice, Writely into Google Docs—the logical expectation is that it'll get merged into its already excellent Picasa photo managing app. [Picnick]

Half the Canadian population, watched Sunday as Canada beat the Americans 3-2 in overtime to win the gold…

Full story at The Live Feed

Photos still look great for web-viewing even when they’re at resolutions well below the optimal size for printing. Resize and resample your images down to a more reasonable size at Web Resizer.

Photo by docentjoyce.

Upload a photo to Web Resizer and you can not only resize the image to smaller dimensions, but tweak its appearance and image quality. You can round the corners or leave them square, add a border, crop, rotate, sharpen and adjust the image quality to push the image size down even further. If you’re unable to decide which image quality setting is best, you can check the “Compare Image Sizes” box and Web Resizer will lay out images in increments of 10 points on the scale for you to compare. You can also do basic adjustments to the contrast, exposure, and tint of the image.

It’s not a tool for batch conversion or heavy editing but for individual tweaking to optimize a handful of site images or adjust a profile picture to fit within the size and resolution requirements of a site you want to upload it to, it’s a handy and free tool. Have a favorite online editor? Let’s hear about it in the comments.