September 2009 - Tech Tips & Tricks

Researchers Use MRIs To Read Subject’s Thoughts

September 28, 2009 by blogmeister·5 Comments

mind_reading Wow. After reading this new, I was impressed. This is something alright. It could be a technological breakthrough or it could be the cause of a relationship breakup ha ha.

In a new study, performed at the University of California, Berkley, researchers scanned various regions of the brain to figure out an image that subjects were imagining. So imagine if your wife or girlfriend wants your brain scanned and she gets to see images of sexy females, some whom she knows personally … tsk … disaster!

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), it scans parts of the brain linked to shape identification to correctly guess the viewed image from a series of stock images. This has not been perfected yet but in the long run it will. Impressive, right?

Such thoughts certainly are not without alarming privacy and safety implications. What do you think of this breakthrough? It can have beneficial effects if used correctly. However, when used wrongly it can have dire consequences. Yeah, that privacy issue again ;).

Get Total Count Of Leaf Nodes From A Node In JTree

September 27, 2009 by blogmeister·0 Comments

To get a JTree node’s total number of leaf nodes, you have to make use of the DefaultMutableTreeNode because it already has a method for counting all the leaf nodes from a starting node. Once you can get the TreePath object of the JTree, you can then convert the TreePath‘s getLastPathComponent() and cast it to a DefaultMutableTreeNode object.

Then you can call the getLeafCount() method of that DefaultMutableTreeNode object. Simple right? Yeah, if you manage to find it out early. I kept focusing on the TreeNode object which took me a long time to find out regarding the DefaultMutableTreeNode class. Here is the method.

public static int getLeafCount(TreePath path) {
    int count = 0;
    if (path != null) {
        DefaultMutableTreeNode dmtn = (DefaultMutableTreeNode) path.getLastPathComponent();
        count = dmtn.getLeafCount();
    }
    return count;
}

public static int getLeafCount(TreePath path) {

int count = 0;

if (path != null) {

DefaultMutableTreeNode dmtn = (DefaultMutableTreeNode) path.getLastPathComponent();

count = dmtn.getLeafCount();

}

return count;

}

Dora Saves The Crystal Kingdom For iTouch

September 26, 2009 by blogmeister·5 Comments

dora Don’t get me wrong. I did not install this in my iTouch so I could play it. But I did it for my niece and nephew who always wants to get hold of my iTouch whenever we have some gatherings. I am sure they enjoy any kind of Dora game as would any kid who knows Dora.

In this game, the greedy king has taken the color crystals from the Crystal Kingdom and hidden them! Dora needs your help to ride on a magic shield to collect all the crystals and bring color back to the Crystal Kingdom. Get ready to ride the rainbow and save the Crystal Kingdom with Dora.

dora1 dora2

The game is very simple. Using the iTouch’s tilting mechanism, you swerve left or right to collect all the crystals. To add more features to the game, a special coloring book application is included so kids can explore their creativity using the color crystals to color the Crystal Kingdom. Tutorials are very easy to understand. Sound effects like their voices are the same as in the show and cut scenes based on the episode.

My niece and nephew simply went gaga when I showed them this game. Anything Dora, it is always fun for kids!

Tech Tips & Tricks

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Month: September 2009

Researchers Use MRIs To Read Subject’s Thoughts

Get Total Count Of Leaf Nodes From A Node In JTree

Dora Saves The Crystal Kingdom For iTouch