Everyone who participated in “Download Day” for Firefox 3 should pat themselves on the back. It has officially been given the Guiness World Record kudos for the most downloaded piece of software in 24 hours.

The final figure was 8,002,530, which is pretty impressive considering the servers didn’t respond too well to the huge amount of traffic initially. However, once they came back up they were pretty solid. If you are one of the people who participated in download day, you can fill your name out at spreadfirefox.com and get a certificate to print-out and keep. Just their little way to say thank-you I guess!

This day 60 years ago, the first modern computer, nicknamed the Manchester “Baby” was switched on to run it’s first successful program. Baby was the first computer to store information digitally, using a Cathode Ray Tube (or CRT), and is the predecessor for how we store information in modern RAM chips.

The invention and concepts 60 years ago were monumental after people realised for the computer to be of any real use, the information would have to be stored permanently and electrically by the machine. Although the data was added by hand, the Baby would constantly read and refresh the bits on the CRT, it’s memory, electronically to keep them from decaying, and is a concept still in use by RAM today. By the time it was revealed this method was capable of storing 4096 bits.

The first program was run on the Baby, this day 60 years ago. One of the inventors, F.C. Williams, spoke of the monumental occasion, “A program was laboriously inserted and the start switch pressed. Immediately the spots on the display tube entered a mad dance. In early trials it was a dance of death leading to no useful result, and what was even worse, without yielding any clue as to what was wrong. But one day it stopped, and there, shining brightly in the expected place, was the expected answer. It was a moment to remember. This was in June 1948, and nothing was ever the same again.”

Looking at this video, you would think that Pixar or Disney had got their hands on it - but no! This video is brought to you by open source software, as good as - probably better (taking the cool & kudos factors into consideration) than their big-bucks hollywood counterparts. Check out the streaming animation (of 10 minutes) here.

Google Earth is soon to release a plug-in that will allow 3D content from the Google Earth archives to be displayed within your browser window - rather than using the stand-alone Google Earth app. The plug-in currently supports, in it’s Beta form, Firefox 2 and IE6/7.

This is a move, I think, that spells the end for the application, that has always seemed to fit strangely with the rest of Google’s ideals. The concept of cloud computing is lost a little when you have a clunky OpenGL app that needs to be fired up every time you want to find a location. To be honest I always use Google maps as I find it easier just for this reason. To me it looks as though Google realise this and are moving Google Earth over to a browser-only platform.

Well, you can’t actually buy an open source laptop from VIA, but you can download the specs and get the chips from VIA. The laptop itself, featured in a techcrunch article, is another one of those “small form-factor & cheap” deals that everyone seems to be jumping up and down about. Laptops like the OLPC, the Eee PC & Intel’s Classmate. I’ve always thought that if you want a laptop for surfing, get yourself on Ebay and buy a cheap Compaq and install Linux on it. A quick surf reveals one with Windows 98 on for just £10. Of course it won’t win any beauty contests like the others here, and will probably deduct cool points instead of adding them, but it can’t be beaten for surfing.

Spy equipment is within the reach of anyone now as technology has become cheaper and smaller, gone are the days when you would have to fork out £3,000 for a miniature video camera. Now you can simply visit our industrious friends in China to get your hands on some really cool gadgets.

The “Spy Tie”, featured to the right, comes complete with a video recorder you pop into your pocket to capture the images from the tiny camera hidden in the tie. Although, by the picture, why you would want to take video of two people messing about with shaving foam is beyond me - unless it was going to be aired after midnight. On board memory is 1Gb, which is expandable with a memory card too. Other examples from this company are a packet of chewing gum with an inbuilt video camera, spy “sunglasses” that shoot video of your peripheral vision and various wireless recording devices. I spent most of my time wondering why I would want any of these things, but still felt myself wanting them anyway!

Not technically “legal”, or at least according to Apple’s EULA, Psystar have been creating PCs for the last month with OSX pre-installed. So popular are they that they’re unable to fulfil their orders, with various credit card authorisers buckling under the pressure. And because of the suspension of orders on their website, and them moving to new premises, people were getting suspicious thinking maybe it was a big scam.

Well it’s not a scam and the proof is here! A Psystar created PC with Leopard pre-installed. Although, according to the guy who bought it, it won’t patch online, it’s cheaper than having an Apple-created Mac. I’m sure Steve Jobs will put an end to it fairly soon, so if you’re after a Mac, can’t afford the cost, then maybe you should give Psystar a visit.

In what seems like a theme, I have another “Make your own…” post! It’s not my fault - firstly it’s the world of tech for creating very uninspiring news, and secondly it’s Dazza’s fault for pointing me in the direction of this hack (thanks mate!)

So here it is. You too can have a custom USB memory stick that looks like somebody has ripped a USB cable in half and plugged it into your laptop! You can be guaranteed lots of attention when people see it (and probably more than when I created my own custom USB memory stick made out of Duplo). A great project for the terminally bored amongst you, and a cool addition to anybody’s laptop bag. See how it’s done here.

Firstly, I would like to say that using a wireless network which is not yours, will probably land you in some trouble. But, hey, it’s not for me to judge, I’m just here to provide the information!

After very recently looking for some admin-like answers to some wireless network problems I was having, I found this article that details in a Make Magazine or Instructables style, how to create a “Predator” wireless access point sniffer.

The Predator is a hacked router and huge wireless receiver, plus a tripod. It will scan the surrounding area for the strongest unencrypted, or “open” wireless network and repeat it into your network. And because of the over-average size of the receiver, you should be able to get a good signal as long as you have a fairly good line-of-sight. So you will have free wireless internet, while still retaining control of your network security. Very cool, but remember it might be illegal depending on where you live and laws in that country etc. Also, I wouldn’t suggest sticking the thing right next to the window as in the pictures, unless you want the SAS zip-lining into your lounge after reports of a sniper in your building!

Microsoft, not happy with just dominating the OS market, are all set to dominate the world of robotics with their newly previewed version of “Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008″ today.

Originally released in 2006, and aimed at the hobbyist, the Studio was an answer to a community of robotics developers that needed a good environment to work in. The studio enables developers to use simulations and real connectivity interchangeably. The upshot of this is that you don’t need the hardware to get into robotics, the software can simulate your hard work which will behave exactly like it’s real-world counterpart. The new version has the backing of over 50 companies, and has an improved interface, some performance tweaks and some new tools to help in the design process.

Unfortunately the latest version isn’t available for general consumption just yet, as it’s “Community Technology Preview” status, but if you feel like it’s something you want to get into, or even just to take a look at, you can download the current version of the software from this website - free for personal use. And if it’s something you find you have a knack for, why not take part in the RoboChamps competition, which opens on April 21st?